Popular Louth food business forced to close over concerns of 'grave danger' to public health

A popular food business in Louth has been forced to close it's door after the FSAI deemed the hygiene at the premises to be a "grave and immediate danger" to public health.

The closure order, which was served with immediate effect, was served upon Mr. Adriatik Shabani, owner of Stela Foods located at Unit 2 Greenhills Business Park, Drogheda, Co Louth.

The Enforcement Officer ordered the closure being of the opinion that there is or is likely to be a grave and immediate
danger to public health at, in or on the said premises citing reasons such as inadequate hygiene including pest control.

The report states that adequate procedures were not in place to control pests and the following instances were observed as
evidence of this:

• There was no evidence of any measures in place to control pests.
• Rodent droppings were evident throughout the warehouse, on equipment used to decant and repackage food, on machinery, in silos and hoppers with food in them and on food situated on racking in the warehouse and on food packaging.
• Live mice were seen on five occasions in the warehouse floor and one in an office on the ground floor.
• There were dead mice on the warehouse floor, on equipment and in an office.
• The food business operator was attempting to manage pest control in the absence of a professional pest controller.

The report also added that rodents can spread dangerous pathogens from their faeces and urine to foods and food equipment surfaces and the failure to prevent pest access into and throughout the premises and to the food stored therein is likely to result in a grave and immediate danger to public health.

The report stated the premises and equipment were not clean and maintained in good repair and condition and posed a risk of contamination and rodent droppings, dead flies, insects, dirt and dust was evident on foods, packaging and equipment used to decant food and on a band saw.

The food business operator also did not have effective traceability systems in place. Some food was not adequately labelled or identified to facilitate its traceability, through relevant documentation or information. The business failed to demonstrate effective traceability at the time of inspection.

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