Food businesses are displaying dramatically improved standards of hygiene this year, reflecting the effects of both public demand and official enforcement, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland has said.
Reporting just two "improvement orders" served in June, and no closures, the authority welcomed an overall decline in the numbers of enforcement orders it has made so far this year.
The improvement orders - compelling corrective action on potential risks to public health, where earlier warnings have not been complied with quickly enough - were served on Maud's Kiosk in Dublin's Jervis Centre, and the Magic Wok takeaway at Hartstown Shopping Centre, Co Dublin.
The FSAI said its most serious censure, the closure order, had been served in only 14 cases since January 1st. This compares with 24 in the first half of last year and 51 during all of 2001.
The authority's chief executive, Dr Patrick Wall, also hailed the increasing success of "improvement notices" served by the environmental officers who monitor 37,000 premises around Ireland.
So far this year 215 improvement notices had been issued, compared with 330 throughout last year, but fewer of these were requiring follow-up orders.
Dr Wall said it was encouraging to note the reduction in both closure and enforcement orders being served, and praised businesses which raised their standards voluntarily.
He added: "It will never be possible to police or prosecute a food safety culture into Ireland, so all sectors across the food chain must take responsibility for producing and selling safe food. A subset of Irish food businesses are achieving standards way in excess of the legal requirement and deriving competitive advantage as a result."
Three closure orders were served in May: on the Far East take-away in Palmerstown, Dublin and Moloney's Quick Pick retailers at Broadford, Co Limerick - both of which were allowed to reopen soon afterwards; and on Lucky's Chinese take-away in Loughlinstown, Co Dublin, which remains closed.
Two premises were closed in April, but have also since been allowed to reopen. These were the Cliff Hotel, Ardmore, Co Waterford, and a wholesale warehouse for oriental food run by Ms Josephine So at Clondalkin, Dublin.
