Springfield Stores, Mullingar was one of five food businesses nationwide to be served with closure orders during January.
Closure orders are served where it is deemed that there is, or is likely to be, a grave and immediate danger to public health at or in the premises.
The grocery store was issued with the order on January 13. However, the breaches in food safety legislation were quickly resolved and the store re-opened for business the following day.
The Mullingar store was the only premises last month outside of Dublin to be issued with a closure order by an environmental health officer for the HSE under Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI ) legislation.
In addition to Springfield Stores, closure orders were also served on Jorag Stores, North Circular Road, Dublin; Crystal Food Store, Moore Street, Dublin; Surya Indian Restaurant, Old Navan Road, Dublin; and Lahore Kebab, Clanbrassil Street, Dublin.
Commenting on the closure orders, Dr John O’Brien, chief executive, FSAI, urged food business operators to be extra vigilant in complying with their legal requirements.
“Every food business in Ireland is legally obliged to have a food safety management system in place. To assist food businesses meet this legal requirement, the FSAI has produced a Safe Catering Pack.
“The pack acts as a vital resource in assisting food businesses to design their own food safety management systems particular to their own food operation. It is designed to be user-friendly and jargon free, and comes with a DVD and workbook which provides options on how food businesses can control food safety in areas such as storage, preparation and handling, defrosting, reheating, physical/ chemical contamination, and cooking – all of which are critical points in the implementation of a successful and effective food safety management system. It will be of benefit to some 29,000 food businesses and we urge operators to contact us for a copy of the pack,” he concluded.
Closure orders will remain listed on the FSAI website for a period of three months from the date when a premises is adjudged to have corrected its food safety issue.
