If your favourite local takeaway or restaurant posted a "closing down" notice on their window last month, you might (or maybe we should say might not) want to read on. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) revealed today that a total of seventeen enforcement orders were served on food businesses during the month of July for breaches of food safety legislation. Nine Closure Orders were served under the FSAI Act of 1998 on the following establishments:

• Mad Cow Milkshakes, Burgers & Kebabs (take away), 1 Annamoe Road, Cabra, Dublin 7
• Bay Fish and Chips (restaurant), Main Street, Liscannor, Clare
• Molloys (public house), 59 Talbot Street, Dublin 1
• Casa De Burritos (restaurant), Unit C, Woodquay, Ennis, Clare
• Rockin Joe’s (restaurant), 115 O’Connell St, Limerick
• The Ice Box – Balbriggan (off licence), Castlemill Shopping Centre, Hamlet Lane, Balbriggan, County Dublin
• Spring Chinese Restaurant, 83 Main Street, Mallow, Cork
• The Crescent View Restaurant, Crescent Quay, Wexford
• CFM Catering Limited (food packers), Knockhouse, Gracedieu, Waterford

Another seven Closure Orders were served under the EC (Official Control of Foodstuffs) Regulations 2010. Those included:

• Tropicway Wholesale/Retail (grocery) (closed activity: decanting, blending & packaging of foodstuffs in the first floor room), 9-10 Academy Street, Navan, Meath (first of two Closure Orders served on Tropicway Wholesale/Retail in July)
• Tropicway Wholesale/Retail (grocery), 9-10 Academy Street, Navan, Meath (second of two Closure Orders served on Tropicway Wholesale/Retail in July)
• Lisa’s Trattoria (restaurant), 81 Terenure Road North, Terenure, Dublin 6W
• Castlemill Roma Take Away, Unit 7, Castlemill Shopping Centre, Hamlet Lane, Balbriggan, County Dublin
• La Trattoria (restaurant), Stone Court, Roscommon Town, Roscommon
• Blackwater Lodge Hotel (closed activity: all food preparation and service activities in and from the kitchen and ancillary areas), The Square, Blackwater, Enniscorthy, Wexford
• Jojo’s Chinese Restaurant, 104 Parnell Street, Dublin 1

A Prohibition Order was also served under the FSAI Act 1998 on Gary Creaven Fish Sales (wholesaler), Menlo, Galway. Speaking about the high level of Enforcement Orders served in July, Dr Pamela Byrne, Chief Executive of the FSAI, said: “While the vast majority of food businesses are compliant with food safety legislation, unfortunately we continue to encounter cases where consumers’ health is put at risk through a failure to comply with food safety and hygiene requirements. “These breaches are completely avoidable… Food safety must be paramount.  This requires greater focus to safeguard against standards slipping and to ensure that food served is safe to eat.”