{"id":56789,"date":"2025-09-11T07:27:10","date_gmt":"2025-09-11T07:27:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/56789\/"},"modified":"2025-09-11T07:27:10","modified_gmt":"2025-09-11T07:27:10","slug":"partial-closure-order-issued-to-a-mcdonalds-restaurant-over-rodent-droppings-in-storage-unit-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/56789\/","title":{"rendered":"Partial closure order issued to a McDonald\u2019s restaurant over rodent droppings in storage unit \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

A McDonald\u2019s<\/a> in Drogheda was issued with a partial closure order after rodent droppings and other issues were detected in a storage unit at the side of the restaurant.<\/p>\n

A total of nine closure and prohibition orders were issued by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI)<\/a> in August to restaurants around the country, with the range of problems identified described as \u201cdisappointing\u201d.<\/p>\n

Issues identified across the restaurants included an active cockroach infestation throughout a basement kitchen, with live and dead cockroaches visible on the floor; failure to maintain a clean premises with greasy floors covered in congealed dirt and food debris; and inadequate hand-washing facilities. Other issues identified in restaurants included raw beef and raw chicken prepared in a kitchen without effective cleaning and disinfecting procedures in place, and no measures to prevent cross-contamination, as well as inadequate pest proofing.<\/p>\n

Inspectors issued a partial closure order at the McDonald\u2019s branch at the Waterfront, Rathmullen Road, Drogheda, Co Louth. According to the officer\u2019s report, details of which were published on Wednesday, rodent droppings were detected on shelving and food equipment inside the unit.<\/p>\n

The report also noted that cleaning agents and disinfectant intended for use on food equipment were stored in this area, leaving them exposed to contamination. The area was deemed to be inadequately pest-proofed, with numerous gaps, holes and defects in the structure providing potential entry points for rodents.<\/p>\n

It also recorded the fact that the door to the unit had been left open at the time of inspection, further increasing the risk. Personal protective equipment, including gloves and disposable protective clothing, as well as cleaning equipment such as spare buckets, a power washer and redundant food equipment, were stored in the unit, along with paper roll used for drying food workers\u2019 hands.<\/p>\n

As well as the McDonald\u2019s closure, five closure orders were served under the European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations, 2020. The premises in question were Prime Pizza & Kebab (Take Away), 281 Hyde Road, Limerick (order lifted on September 8th); Wau Asian Cuisine Ltd on Bridge Street, Trim, Meath; the Super Chef Takeaway, Unit 5, Ashbourne Court, Bridge Street, Ashbourne, Meath (order lifted August 27th); Burger Smash (Take Away), 4 Langford Street, Killorglin, Kerry (order lifted August 10th); and Small Chops & More (Service Sector), The Courtyard, Baker Hall, Navan, Meath.<\/p>\n

There were also two closure orders served under the FSAI Act, 1998, on Bk Foods Limited (Wholesaler\/Distributor), Clongorey, Newbridge, Kildare, and the Paulista (Take Away), 121 Dorset Street Upper, Dublin 1 (order lifted August 22nd).<\/p>\n

The inspectors who visited the Paulista takeaway found \u201can active cockroach infestation at all stages of the life cycle throughout the basement kitchen\u201d.<\/p>\n

They noted both live and dead cockroaches in multiple areas around the kitchen where food was prepared and handled. Uncovered foodstuffs were noted being prepared close to where the cockroaches had been found, \u201cincluding for example garlic dips, sweetcorn, and pepperoni\u201d.<\/p>\n

There was one Prohibition Order served under European Union (Official Controls in Relation to Food Legislation) Regulations, 2020, on Chillers Restaurant and Lounge, Liffey Valley Complex.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is disappointing to see the same issues, such as poor hygiene and pest control problems, being identified each month,\u201d said the FSAI\u2019s chief executive Greg Dempsey. \u201cBusinesses selling food to consumers need to ensure that they met their legal obligations, and that the food they sell is safe to eat. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the majority of food businesses take their responsibilities to their customers very seriously, we continue to see a small number of businesses subject to enforcement action, including closure, due to their non-compliances with basic food safety standards.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A McDonald\u2019s in Drogheda was issued with a partial closure order after rodent droppings and other issues were…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56790,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[9,10,18,13,14,41042,6,19,17,11,12,15,16,10586,5,7,8],"class_list":{"0":"post-56789","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-breaking-news","9":"tag-breakingnews","10":"tag-eire","11":"tag-featured-news","12":"tag-featurednews","13":"tag-food-safety-authority-of-ireland-fsai","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-ie","16":"tag-ireland","17":"tag-latest-news","18":"tag-latestnews","19":"tag-main-news","20":"tag-mainnews","21":"tag-mcdonalds","22":"tag-news","23":"tag-top-stories","24":"tag-topstories"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56789","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56789"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56789\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/56790"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56789"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56789"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56789"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}