52% of food businesses are unaware of regulations

Half OF Irish food businesses are unaware of their legal obligations regarding food safety management, a major study has shown.

Some 36 per cent of more than 1,000 catering and retailing businesses surveyed in the Republic by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) said they did not have a food safety management system in place.

Worryingly, 52 per cent had never heard of the industry standard Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP), which food businesses are legally required to implement and is considered essential to reducing food poisoning outbreaks.

The survey, carried out in the Eastern, Western and Southern Health Board areas, sought to establish how regulatory authorities could improve compliance with HACCP, under which businesses are to identify potential food safety hazards at each stage of production.

FSAI chief executive Dr Patrick Wall said that with training HACCP can be implemented with minimum difficulty, but many food businesses were not meeting their obligations.

Some 46 per cent of the 1,098 small- to medium-size businesses in the survey cited lack of understanding of HACCP as the main barrier to implementation, while 14 per cent said it was too complicated.

The FSAI noted just 38 per cent believed they should be responsible for developing food safety management systems. Some 42 per cent thought it was the responsibility of environmental health officers (EHOs) or the local health board and 9 per cent said the FSAI.

Despite low compliance levels, only 12 per cent of respondents thought their food safety procedures could be more effective. The FSAI this week hosted a workshop to establish how to tackle the situation. Extra support materials, technical guides and awareness campaigns are being developed.

A spokeswoman for the FSAI said to date it had refrained from seeking prosecutions on the basis of HACCP non-compliance alone, although noncompliance was cited for moving closure orders. "We don't think blanket prosecutions will solve the problem at this stage because of the extent of the problem. But in 12 months we might adopt a stronger position on that."

Dr Wall said: "While the FSAI and the EHOs around the country can support food businesses, the legal onus is on food businesses to have food safety management systems. These would be based on the principles of HACCP in place and we would urge businesses to comply immediately.

"We would also call on consumers to vote with their feet and if they witness sub-standard practices to complain to management and take their custom elsewhere."