SQT Blog

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) are seeing a big increase in the number of requests for information from people interested in starting a new food business, probably reflecting the downturn in the economy. In the National Technology Park here in Limerick, a new business, yum yums, has recently started delivering good quality lunches, door to door to offices and businesses in the Park. The refrigerated van arrives daily before lunch, selling sandwiches, wraps, soups etc.

Sean and Sinead set up their new food enterprise in 2009. Sean was a self-employed builder and Sinead a Sales Manager in GE Money. We all know the difficulties in the building sector and then Sinead became redundant from her sales job. They decided to establish this food business. Last year they had one van delivering door to door. Since January they now have two.

To support such enterprises, the FSAI has just published a new ‘Guide to Food Law for Artisan/Small Food Producers Starting a New Business’. The guide covers areas such as:

- Food Law
- Registration and Approval
- Food Safety Management System
- Training
- Traceability and Recall
- Legislation Summary
- Voluntary Irish Standards

Training is one area where we can help Artisan/Small Food Producer. We have twelve Food Safety training courses covering HACCP, Food Allergen Control, Food Safety Auditing, Food Legislation, Food Hygiene, Risk Management and the ISO 31000 standard.

This guide is available on the FSAI website.

Sean and Sinead hope to employ 10 people by end 2010. We wish them the very best of luck with their venture.

A report just published by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will be of interest to people attending our Food Safety training courses, particularly the HACCP, Global Standard for Food Safety and Food Safety Auditing courses.

The EFSA report gives the results of a survey carried out in 2008 among 26 member states on Campylobacter and Salmonella in chicken at slaughterhouses in the EU. Campylobacteriosis and salmonellosis are the two most reported food-borne diseases in humans in the EU. The overall finding was that a high prevalence of Campylobacter was found in chickens, whereas Salmonella was less frequently detected.

All Member States participating in the survey reported Campylobacter in the chickens they sampled. The samples were taken at the beginning and at the end of the slaughter line – when the chickens arrived at the slaughterhouse and when their carcasses were chilled after slaughtering. On average, the bacterium was found in the intestines of 71% of chickens, indicating that they were already infected when alive, and on 76% of sampled carcasses, which suggested some further contamination during slaughtering. The survey showed that these figures varied greatly between Member States. The respective results for Ireland were 83% compared with the EU average of 71%, for chickens, and 98% compared with an EU average of 76%, for carcasses. The results showed that Ireland was fourth highest result for chickens and second highest for carcasses among the 26 member states surveyed.

The survey found that 22 of the 26 Member States reported Salmonella in the chicken carcasses they sampled. On average, 16% of sampled carcasses were found to be contaminated and again figures varied between Member States. The figure for Ireland was 11%, which though lower than the EU average was still the tenth highest result.

The FSAI comment on this EFSA report and also cite their own report, which is currently being finalised which highlights that 13.2% of the external surface of chicken packaging and 10.9% of the surface of retail display cabinets were contaminated with Campylobacter species.

According to Professor Alan Reilly, CEO, FSAI the findings of both studies provide significant data for the FSAI’s Scientific Committee which is currently working with the food industry and the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to look at practical measures to form the basis of a Campylobacter control programme in Irish chicken … Similar to all bacteria found naturally on meat and poultry, the danger posed by Campylobacter can be removed by thoroughly cooking products and by preventing cross-contamination between raw meat and ready-to-eat foods.

The results above further emphasise the critical importance of good hygiene practice when handling chicken in slaughter houses, in retail outlets and in the home.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) do trojan work in the whole area of food safety.

Last week it announced details of communications received on their advice line in 2009. In total 9,444 communications were received, of which 1,981 (21%) were complaints from consumers.

The 1,981 complaints were broken down into:

858 (43%) complaints on unfit food
363 (18%) complaints on suspect food poisoning
408 (21%) complaints on hygiene standards
112 (6%) complaints on incorrect information on food labelling
20 (1%) complaints on incorrect advertising of food products
220 (11%) other

Consumer awareness of food hygiene and safety issues is evident in my opinion from the fact that 38 people on average contacted the FSAI each week with complaints. However we must remember that this only reflects the number of consumers who actually took the time to make contact with the FSAI – most likely only a fraction of the number of consumers who encountered problems.

Foreign objects that contaminated food included insects, hair, pieces of skin, glass and rodent droppings. Complaints about poor hygiene standards related to food handling staff not washing their hands, touching their face and then handling food and handling raw and cooked food with the same kitchen utensils.

44% of communications received by the advice line were from the food industry. The main requests were for publications, advice on food labelling, food safety training information and information on how to set up a new food business.

We here at SQT also do a lot of training in the area of food safety. In total we have twelve courses in this area including:

Food Safety Auditing
HACCP Development, Implementation & Verification
Food Allergen Control
Global Standard for Food Safety BRC Issue 5
Instructor Skills for the Food Industry
Introduction to Food Legislation
Food Hygiene

A number of these courses are FETAC accredited.

Full information on the courses listed is available by clicking on the above links or here for our full range of food safety courses.

Full details of FSAI announcement is here.