Chinese restaurant where inspectors found ‘flies walking on’ chicken apologises for ‘mistake’

Chinese Gourmet Restaurant in Oldcastle was one of five establishments nationwide served with closure orders by the Food Safety Authority Of Ireland (FSAI) last month.

In a post on their Facebook page the restaurant wrote a message to their “dear customers”.

“The health officials inspected our company on 27th June found that our employees were handling food improperly in the wrong place,” the post reads.

“We promptly handled the contaminated chicken and stopped using the timber shed that day. We also made a remedial plan in a timely manner. The health officials only asked to close the timer shed and allow us to operate normally”

“I will also retrain the chefs employed in food safety and hygiene.”

The post then states: “I would like to express my sincerest apologies to the customers affected by this incident.”

A man answering the phone at the restaurant on Friday night who said he was the manager/chef, said they had made a mistake, and assured customers they had taken action.

“We made a mistake and we are sorry for that,” the man said.

“We have been here more than ten years and we never had a problem (before).”

That order came on foot of an inspection carried out at its premises in the Co Meath town on June 27.

In a report prepared following that examination, FSAI officials ordered the immediate closure of an outdoor timber shed located in the restaurant’s back yard where the discovery of a number of uncovered cardboard boxes containing cooked chicken had been found.

“The door of the shed was open (and) flies were observed walking on the cooked chicken,” the report highlighted.

Inspectors also identified the presence of mould being on the shed’s walls and ceilings, leading to concerns over a possible risk to public health.

“Food was not protected against any contamination likely to render the food unfit for human consumption,” the report added.

Those reservations were among a string of reasons for seven Enforcement Orders to be handed out nationally by food safety authority officials last month.

Among the other closure orders were incidents of two mouse carcasses found under a sink and under a toilet, a significant amount of rodent droppings under a sink and rat infestation evidence.

Dr Pamela Byrne, Chief Executive, FSAI, said food businesses have a legal obligation to comply with food safety legislation in the interest of public health.

“Consumers have a right to safe food,” she said.

“Under food law, it is the legal responsibility of food businesses to ensure that the food they sell to the consumer is safe to eat.

“If anyone experiences unfit food, poor hygiene standards or notices a breach of food law in a food business, we encourage them to contact us via our online complaint form at www.fsai.ie/makeitbetter.

“Reporting inappropriate and unsafe food practices provides us with information that we can act upon.”

Three Closure Orders were served under the FSAI Act, 1998 on:

Board (Closed area: The Upper storey of the building) (service sector), 29 Clanbrassil Street Upper, Dublin 8

Mercury Eastern European Food (retailer), Unit 25, Midleton Business Enterprise Park, Dwyer Road, Midleton, Cork

Giraffe Childcare Limited, Elm Park, Merrion Road, Dublin 4

-Two Closure Orders were served under the European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations, 2020 on:

Chinese Gourmet Restaurant (Closed area: the use of the outdoor timber shed in the back yard of the restaurant for the storage/ handling of any open food or food contact materials), The Square, Oldcastle, Meath

Chrysanthemum (restaurant/café), Unit 1 Old Orchard Inn, Butterfield Avenue, Rathfarnham, Dublin 14

Two Prohibition Orders were served under the European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations, 2020:

Johnson Best Food African Take Away, 86 Summerhill, Dublin 1

The Roadhouse (public house), Clongowney, Mullingar, Westmeath.

Also, during the months of May and June two prosecutions were taken by the HSE in relation to:

Mean Greens Vegan Kitchen Stall, Ballysax Hills, The Curragh, Kildare

Griolladh 2 Stall, Ballysax Hills, The Curragh, Kildare