In its annual report, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) warned that food incidents are becoming more complex and often serious.
FSAI marked its 25th anniversary in 2023. External challenges impacting food safety include the potential for supply disruption due to political unrest in the Middle East and the war in Ukraine, regulatory divergence after Brexit, and the focus on environmental sustainability and its unintended consequences for safe food.
The FSAI Advice Line received 4,395 complaints from consumers regarding hygiene standards in businesses, food unfit for human consumption, and people with suspected food poisoning, up from 2022.
Investigations into protected disclosures made by food industry employees to the FSAI jumped from 16 in 2022 to 89 in 2023. These investigations led to several enforcement actions, including the removal of a significant quantity of food from the market that posed a danger to public health.
Incidents and fraud investigations
In 2023, FSAI handled 773 food incidents, of which 425 were serious. While this was down from previous years, the agency said these incidents were becoming more complex, involving complicated distribution chains, multi-agency responses, and engagement with other countries.
Authorized officers from FSAI and other state authorities conducted 57 food fraud investigations and 21 online searches. Approaches ranged from the execution of a search warrant obtained from a district court to the monitoring of social media pages in cases where the operation of unauthorized food businesses was suspected. Outcomes included three Closure Orders, two Prohibition Orders, and four Compliance Notices. Food safety concerns prompted the disposal of almost 142,000 kilograms of products of animal origin.
Work with online platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram, where illegal firms were selling products resulted in the social media sites taking down the pages of two unregistered food businesses.
Ireland published two fraud cases in 2023. The first was an information request regarding an alcohol firm in France, and the second related to the fraudulent misdeclaration of consignments imported from the UK to Ireland.
A total of 71 public warnings were issued about food recalls, 39 of which advised people not to consume a certain product as it was deemed unsafe, and 32 were related to allergens. Two incidents were of public health concern. The first was a large recall of several batches of raw chicken products due to possible Salmonella Typhimurium, and the second was a recall of imported frozen food of animal origin due to inadequate traceability.
Microbiologists provided technical support during the Salmonella Typhimurium incident and for a second outbreak, as well as follow-up support for the Clostridium botulinum outbreak in France during the 2023 Rugby World Cup. They also shared knowledge relating to Cronobacter contamination of infant formula.
Evolving challenges
More than 270 enforcement notices were issued, including the closure of 76 food businesses, and eight firms were prosecuted, seven by HSE and one by FSAI. These figures are higher than in 2022. Recurring issues included inadequate food storage with the risk of contamination; a lack of pest control procedures; poor temperature control in food storage, preparation and distribution; and insufficient staff training in food safety, personal hygiene, and recordkeeping.
Food safety agencies in Ireland undertook more than 60,000 official controls, an 8 percent increase from 2022. Laboratories analyzed almost 60,000 samples, a rise of 13.5 percent. There was also an increase in staff dedicated to food safety in official agencies, from 1,551 in 2022 to 1,656 in 2023.
Pamela Byrne, FSAI CEO, said: “The system has been transformed from one where food safety was managed at a very local level by individual agencies of the state to one that is now less fragmented and more coherent. As we transition in Ireland and at a global level, we must continue to develop our control systems to keep pace with new and emerging risks, new food ingredients, new food production systems, better management of known risks, new technological innovations in industry, digitalization and data-driven decision-making, as well as meeting the higher expectations of consumers.
“There is no market for unsafe food, and it is incumbent on all involved in Ireland’s food system to ensure that consumers’ health and interests in respect of food are protected in so far as is reasonably possible, and food safety training is a key element of achieving this.”
The International Heads of Food Agencies Forum (IHFAF) meeting in May involved 17 regulatory agencies from countries including Saudi Arabia, New Zealand, China, Morocco, Singapore, Germany, and the UK to discuss how best to prepare for food safety crises and manage incidents. Officials from the World Health Organization and the Food and Agriculture Organization also attended the event. The 2024 edition was held in Singapore.
In 2023, members of the FSAI participated in European Heads of Food Safety Agencies plenary meetings and working groups on food supplements, e-commerce, import controls, private assurance schemes, and sustainable food systems.
FSAI has a confidentiality agreement with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). In July 2023, the FDA inspected five food businesses in Ireland.
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