Seven closure orders were served on food businesses by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) in the month of September under food safety legislation.
They include three Dublin restaurants, Lee Kee Chinese Restaurant on Parnell Street, Bow Lane Restaurant on Aungier Street and Rustic Stone in South Great Georges Street.
An inspector noted no cold water supply throughout the Lee Kee premises, unclean conditions, food debris and grease embedded on equipment and food stored at the wrong temperature.
Rodent droppings were noted under and behind equipment in the kitchen of the Bow Lane Restaurant.
There were also holes and gaps in the walls and rodent dropping were found in a hallway, and keg room. An inspector noted rodent droppings in a gap in a cavity wall and in a dry store in Rustic Stone Restaurant.
In the Ocean Palace in Blackcastle Shopping Centre in Navan, there was no cleaning or disinfection work in a chicken preparation area, there was excessive dirt, a build up of grease and food debris and cleaning equipment in the premises was filthy.
Staff also handled raw and then cooked food and no staff member was observed washing their hands.
Mouse droppings were noted under shelves where food was stored in Homesavers in Ballysimon in Limerick which led to a partial closures order, while in Swift Fine Foods in Lough Egish Food Park in Co Monaghan mouse faeces was found in multiple locations in the premises, on food products and food contact material.
There was evidence of mice interfering with foodstuffs and dead mice were visible on the floor near food products. The inspectors report also notes staff WCs were in a generally filthy condition and not operational.
This evening a spokesperson for Swift Fine Foods told RTÉ the FSAI closure order related to a storage building that is 2km from its manufacturing operations and is used for storage of out-of-date material.
The spokesperson said the order was lifted within 10 days after required remedial work was completed.
Commenting on the Closure Orders served in September, Dr Pamela Byrne, Chief Executive, FSAI, said that a lack of pest control procedures is unacceptable.
"It is a legal requirement for all food businesses to have a robust food safety management system in place that also ensures a high level of pest control.
"However, time after time, environmental health officers are finding incidents of rodent infestations and filthy premises highlighting a disregard for basic food safety and hygiene.
"All food businesses have a legal obligation to ensure that the food they are processing, serving or selling is safe to eat at all times.
"Consumers have a right to safe food and we would urge anyone who is concerned or suspect there is unusual activity being demonstrated by a food business, to contact us via our online complaint form and we will investigate," she said.
All but one of the food businesses have now reopened following work to address identified food safety issues and re-inspection by the FSAI.
