Irish fish audit finds too many controls are announced

An audit in Ireland has found most inspections at fish producers were carried out with prior notice despite a requirement for them to be unannounced.

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) audited the effectiveness of official controls by the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) at ready-to-eat (RTE) fishery product establishments. 

Official controls legislation and the SFPA’s food safety control plan states that controls should be performed without prior notice, except where it is necessary and justified.

The majority, 82 percent in 2022 and almost 75 percent in 2023, of SFPA food safety inspections in RTE fishery products establishments were carried out with prior notice. This figure was 67 percent for January to March 2024. Auditors said such a high rate could negatively impact the effectiveness of official controls.

The main reason given to the audit team for prior notice inspections was to guarantee that premises are in operation and the relevant people are available, especially in remote areas.

SFPA said the requirement to do more unannounced checks was discussed at a meeting in late 2024 with suggestions on how best it could be done. A review of the data on unannounced versus announced will be done by the end of the first quarter of this year .

Other selected findings
The audit started in May 2024 and included visits to three port offices. Only one of 16 selected establishments was producing RTE foods on the day of the visit. Three firms were not operating. The focus was on RTE smoked fish and other RTE products such as pâté, prawn cocktail, and cooked meat such as crabmeat.

A compliance notice was issued by the SFPA in one premises because of a lack of traceability for some products stored onsite. No significant findings were identified during visits to the other 12 plants, however, almost all had minor non-compliances identified by the audit team which were outlined to the business verbally for follow-up by SFPA during subsequent official controls.

At one premise, the audit team found an extra day was being added to the shelf life of products. The company explained this was an error with the labeling machine due to the leap year and an IT expert was needed to correct the issue.

An overall view of the content of inspection reports was not available centrally to indicate trends or identify common issues across regions.

Auditors noted in each establishment visited, when non-compliances were noted, they were communicated to the business but on many occasions no date for completion was provided or it was stated they were to be corrected before the next inspection, which often didn’t take place for several months. In one case, while a date of completion was provided, this was extended in the following three inspections, so the non-compliance remained open 18 months after it was first raised.

Of the 23 food incidents recorded by the SFPA from January 2022 to March 2024, 12 related to positive results from Listeria monocytogenes in smoked salmon. All of these were from official control sampling and additional testing was carried out by the SFPA.

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