At Newry Magistrates Court on Monday 15 December 2014, Judge Eamon King imposed fines totalling £10,000 and an additional £1,000 costs on Mr Bernard Murchan of Back Road, Mullaghbawn. Mr Murchan pleaded guilty to ten offences relating to breaches of food safety regulations. The offences took place in October 2012 when Newry & Mourne District Council’s Environmental Health Department received a call from the PSNI reporting that they discovered meat butchering activities inside an agricultural shed. Environmental Health Officers immediately investigated the matter and found a number of beef carcases hanging in a makeshift butchery and coldroom within the shed along with some sides of beef that were in the process of being butchered. The beef was legitimately stamped and documentation was seized which allowed the enforcement officers to trace the supply back to source. Assistant Director of Environment Health & Building Services, Eoin Devlin commented “Such food processing activities require EC Approval to operate and are subject to strict food safety and hygiene requirements. However in this case the premises, food contact surfaces and equipment were found to be in a filthy condition with decaying food debris and blood, the premises was not adequately pest proofed and a dog was observed accessing the food handling areas, feeding off the decaying food debris and rubbing against the meat carcases. There were no facilities for the washing of equipment and hands.” The premises was closed using Hygiene Emergency Prohibition procedures and all the meat on the premises was seized and subsequently condemned and destroyed. The premises has not been permitted to re-open. There was evidence that the meat was supplied into premises in the Republic of Ireland. A cross border multi agency investigation involving the Environmental Health Departments of Newry and Mourne District Council and of the Health Services Executive, Co. Louth, the Food Standards Agency in Northern Ireland and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland was initiated, resulting in removing meat from this premises out of the food supply chain.
Posted on: Tue, 16 Dec 2014 09:53:50 +0000
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