Food businesses served with Closure Orders, Prohibition Orders, and Improvement Orders will soon find themselves listed on the website of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) until three months after they correct the food safety issue.
Food safety offenders will also find themselves listed on a press release issued monthly by the FSAI.
Dr Patrick Wall, CEO of the FSAI, explained yesterday that the warning had been given in the interests of public health: “The poor practices of a small number of businesses can affect the entire image of an industry and those who do that should be named.”
“There are over 36,000 food premises in Ireland and since January of this year 40 Closure Orders have been served. It is unfair to those food businesses with excellent food safety and hygiene practices that a small number of premises flagrantly disregard the law and put the public’s health at risk,” he added.
Wall added that the majority of food businesses take the issue of food safety seriously. However, “those businesses that have serious breaches of the law and put their customers’ health at risk will face closure and have their names highlighted. If it takes a name and shame approach to bring such operators into line or out of business so be it.”
The FSAI has become the first food safety agency in Europe to fully implement such a procedure bringing offenders to public attention. The provisions were originally outlined in the FSAI Act of 1998.
To read a just-food.com feature on the FSAI, click here.
