Two Chinese restaurants in Dublin city, a food-trailer business in Cork and a cafe in Waterford were all served with closure notices by environmental health offices today after failing to pass food safety and hygiene inspections.
Each restuarant was shut down after inspectors decided there was likely to be a grave and immediate danger to public health at or in the premises.
According to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI), responsible for ensuring businesses comply to health and safety legislation, the two Chinese restaurants barred from trading were the Xin Yuan Restaurant on Moore Lane and the Wang Wang Restaurant on Moore Street in Dublin's north inner-city.
In Watergrasshill in Cork, the Lynton Trailer Food Stall was forced to close, as was Café Luna on Selskar Street in Waterford city.
The FSAI's Director of Service Contracts, Mr Peter Whelan, said: "Building up a strong client base takes years of hard work and dedication; however, being implicated in a food poisoning outbreak or subject to one of these orders can wipe it out overnight.
"Basic food safety skills are not difficult to master, and employers are legally obliged to ensure that all staff involved in food production or preparation must be adequately trained and/or supervised in food hygiene practices."
To help businesses with their training requirements, the FSAI recently published Food Safety and You,a programme that covers basic food-safety training.