A NUMBER of Wexford food outlets have been named and shamed in a list of businesses deemed to be putting public health at risk.
A total of ten Closure Orders were served by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) this month, with 40% taking place in CountyWexford.
The orders, issued by environmental health officers in the Health Service Executive, were due to a breach of certain food legislature.
Each order was served under the EC (Official Control of Foodstuffs) Regulations 2010 (S.I No. 117 of 2010).
One restaurant was handed a Closure Order on August 7, only to be lifted the following day. However, Etchinghams, Main Street, Blackwater (owned by Mr. Sean Whelan) was issued another order just eight days later.
Another business given an order was Eurosaver, 21-23 Main Street, Wexford.
The supermarket, owned by Ms. Yamzng Weng, was issued the Closing Order on the handling and serving of soft ice-cream on August 2. This was lifted on August 15.
Finally, the Lagoon Café, Pirates Cove, Courtown (owned by Ms Elizabeth Nolan), was also handed a Closure Order on August 13, which lifted two days later.
A Closure Order is served where it is deemed that there is or there is likely to be a grave and immediate danger to public health at or in the premises. They can refer to the immediate closure of part or all of the food premises, or all or some of its activities.
A spokesperson for the FSAI said that the volume of orders issued in County Wexford over the past month was unusually high.
“Dublin is always a huge problem, as it has obviously more people and more businesses available. However, this month four of the Closure Orders have been issued in Wexford and only two in Dublin – there were ten orders altogether.
“To have four closures out of ten is a high number for any county that isn’t Dublin,” she said.
[For full story, see this week’s Echo.]