There is nothing to indicate to customers entering the Iceland store in Dublin city centre that the food retailer has just been subject to some of the most severe sanctions ever imposed by the Food Standards Authority of Ireland (FSAI).
Iceland has been ordered to recall and immediately withdraw all frozen food of animal origin that has been imported into the State since March 3rd. This follows multiple breaches that have been described by FSAI chief executive Pamela Byrne as “very serious”.
The ban includes all meat, egg and dairy products imported over the last 3½ months.
Iceland has been accused of importing food into the State without proper traceability or paperwork.
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Iceland has no notice on its social media channels about the FSAI ruling even though it has 27 stores in the Republic. It has not responded to any requests from any Irish media for comment.
There were few visitors to the Iceland store on Talbot Street on Friday morning.
Those visitors were promised “great savings and great deals”, but no apology or explanation was visible in the store for the rows of empty freezers inside.
The whole BBQ range was empty, as were the freezers for frozen chicken and frozen steaks.
Three large display cabinets had the words “look what’s fresh” written on them. The answer was nothing, as the shutters were down on all of them. Curiously, the vegetable counter was also mostly empty, save for a few onions even though vegetables are not included in the banned list.
There are still plenty of frozen burgers: the Greggs range is unaffected, as are the frozen pizzas and most of the ready-meal sections, which include the Indian “Fakeaway” brand and the Diet Coke chicken.
Only two staff were on duty in the supermarket. One woman said she wondered why so many shelves were shut and left after buying nothing. Another customer said she was vegan so the prohibition did not affect her. A man pulled up in his van to buy his ready-meal lunch. “Once it’s cheap, I don’t give a s***,” he said.
None had heard of the FSAI ruling. A FSAI spokeswoman said the authority is taking legal proceedings against Iceland and cannot comment any further.
