Dead mice found in Ardcavan desserts business
A LUXURY homemade desserts business in Wexford was closed down for three days after food safety inspectors discovered nine dead mice in the production area, and mouse droppings on baking trays.
Sweetness Luxury Homemade Desserts in Ardcavan Businss park whose directors are Davin Pierce and John Pierce, was the subject of an inspection by environmental health officers with the Health Service Executive (HSE) in May.
During the inspection, nine dead mice were found in the production area and associated stores directly off the production area. Seven of the dead mice were found below and behind one of the chest freezers in the goods inwards/ dispatch area. One of the dead mice was found in a small store directly off the cold room, while another was observed in a store area behind the partition wall adjacent to the main oven.
According to a HSE report, there was ‘prolific evidence’ of mice droppings in the premises including on all food shelving; behind and below freezers, on the floor beside the open food packaging shelving, and at all wall/floor joins throughout the dispatch area that opens into the food production area.
Droppings were also seen on shelving and amongst electrical cables and files on the floor of the office in the food production area.
More droppings were observed in baking trays on a trolley stored beside the main oven and adjacent to the wall cladding where other mice droppings had been identified in the production room.
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) ordered the business to close on May 22 for breaches of food safety legislation. The closure order was lifted on May 25.
Sweetness Luxury Homemade Desserts was one of 11 Irish businesses ordered to close during the month of May.