Marler Clark LLP, PS (LexBlog Ireland)

Public complaints to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland’s (FSAI) advice line went up this past year with a sharp rise in food poisoning reports. There were 4,058 complaints from consumers in 2022, with about 1,200 relating to unfit food and more than 1,100 each due to poor hygiene standards and suspected food poisoning. Food poisoning...

Perrigo Company plc, of Dublin, Ireland, is recalling certain lots of Gerber® Good Start® SootheProTM Powdered Infant Formula in the U.S., that were manufactured at the Company’s Gateway Eau Claire, Wisconsin manufacturing facility from Jan. 2-18, 2023. This product is being recalled because of potential Cronobacter sakazakii contamination. This product is sold at retailers across...

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is going ahead with plans to stop discounted enforcement prices in the meat industry despite strong opposition during a comment period. The consultation covered the proposal to remove discounts on charges for enforcement activity so non-compliant businesses that generate more work no longer benefit from discounts. Of 16 responses in...

Health officials have been unable to find the source of a Salmonella outbreak that affected almost 30 people in Ireland and England. The outbreak, which saw 11 people hospitalized, has been declared over by authorities. Symptom onset ranged between Nov. 30, 2022, and Jan. 13, 2023, peaking on Dec. 7. Patients lived in multiple areas...

Health officials in the Republic of Ireland are investigating a Salmonella outbreak that has sickened more than 20 people. The number of laboratory-confirmed cases associated with the epidemic is 26 and people fell ill between Nov. 30 and Dec. 25, 2022. Patients range in age from 10 to 91 years old; 14 are male and...

The number of food incidents, recalls and cases of four pathogens went up over a 12-month period, according to the latest published data. The Food Standards Agency’s (FSA) annual report and accounts covers performance and activities in 2021/22 across England, Wales and Northern Ireland at a cost of £130.5 million ($160.2 million). Susan Jebb, FSA chair, said:...

Factors such as the seller and the product type influence consumer trust in the hygiene and safety of food sold online, according to research. The Food Standards Agency (FSA) commissioned research to understand consumer attitudes toward buying food online, including the perceived risks. Findings come from 12 online discussion groups with 69 people in England,...

— OPINION — Welcome to 2023! The calendars have been changed, the holiday season is coming to a close and it is time to refocus ahead of what is sure to be another news worthy period for the food sector. This year marks a decade since the horse meat scandal in Europe. The food fraud...

The cost of food is the main concern for people this Christmas but safety is still important, according to a survey. Research from safefood revealed that almost 4 in 10 people in Ireland are concerned about getting Christmas dinner right. The group safefood promotes food safety and nutrition in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. The cost...

Irish people generally have good knowledge of the main aspects to prevent Salmonella infection, according to recently published study results. Researchers evaluated consumers’ food safety knowledge by looking at their practices and attitudes regarding raw meat handling, cross-contamination while handling different types of food products, and knowledge of Salmonella risk and associated food-handlin

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has found some people are taking food safety risks because of money pressures and rising energy costs. Data comes from a consumer survey of 2,000 adults in September relating to food in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.  A new question for the latest edition of the monthly poll asked people...

Some food safety staff at the Food Standards Agency (FSA) are being asked if they want to go on strike because of their pay.  Several hundred meat inspectors, vets, and office-based staff in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland are involved, said Unison, a union in the United Kingdom. Mike Short, Unison’s head of local government, said the...

The number of food incidents rose this past year but recalls and sampling declined, according to the Food Safety Authority of Ireland’s (FSAI) annual report. During 2021, 154 warnings about food being recalled or withdrawn from the market were issued, a slight decrease from 2020. FSAI also dealt with more incidents than the year before....

A third of food outlets in England don’t display a food hygiene rating but the figure has decreased over recent years, according to a survey. In Northern Ireland and Wales, businesses are legally required to display their Food Hygiene Rating Scheme (FHRS) sticker but this is not the case in England. The system ranges from...

An ongoing project is identifying the bacteria present in dairy processing environments to evaluate the impact on Listeria monocytogenes. Teagasc in Ireland and the University of Veterinary Medicine Vienna in Austria are collecting samples from dairy processing plants and characterizing the microorganisms, with the aim being to prevent the presence of harmful pathogens. The LmRNA...

Salmonella in breaded chicken and ethylene oxide were two of the main incidents handled this past year by the Food Standards Agency (FSA). The FSA was notified of 2,336 food and feed safety incidents in England, Northern Ireland and Wales during 2021/22. This is an 18 percent increase compared to 1,978 alerts in 2020/21 but is similar...

Health officials in the Republic of Ireland have issued a warning after an increase in E. coli cases and outbreaks in recent weeks. The Department of Public Health Mid-West reported that in a four week period there have been more than 20 E. coli cases reported in the region, including several hospitalizations. Public health teams have...

More than half of Northern Ireland’s home cooks are putting friends and family at risk of food poisoning because they don’t know how to barbecue meat to the correct temperature, according to a survey. Research by Safefood found more than half of 1,000 adults surveyed in July in Northern Ireland believe that the hardest part is...

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has issued a warning about the safety of duck eggs following a recall because of Salmonella. Meadow Park Eggs recalled duck eggs because of the possible presence of Salmonella earlier this month.  Meadow Park Free Range Duck Eggs in a pack size of six with best before dates up...

Official controls in the egg sector work well but there are a few minor issues, according to a report published by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI). An audit in November 2021 covered official controls on the table egg production chain including egg collection, transporting, packing, warehousing, and distribution and retail sale. The main...

An audit of the meat sector in Ireland has found a number of serious issues including forgery, use of meat with an expired date, and one company unable to identify its suppliers. Some non-compliances undermined the safety of food or resulted in misleading information for consumers, said the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI). The...

An increase in problems at food outlets and a rise in new registrations are hampering local authority efforts to get back to pre-pandemic performance on food checks. A report at the Food Standards Agency’s business committee meeting this past week gave an update on how councils are managing as part of a plan agreed in...

Many people in Ireland do not know how to make a complaint to authorities about unfit food or poor hygiene practices, according to a survey. Research commissioned by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) found almost two-thirds of adults are unsure about what to do in such a situation. The poll was carried out...

The Food Standards Agency (FSA) is asking for feedback on plans to seek stronger powers for the National Food Crime Unit (NFCU). The NFCU tackles serious, organized, or complex cases of fraud within food supply chains, across England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The agency was leading or supporting 36 operations at the end of the...

Listeria monocytogenes has been detected in a number of frozen vegetables tested in Ireland. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) said findings show a potential risk of illness for consumers who have non-ready-to-eat (RTE) frozen vegetables, fruits or herbs without cooking. After a 2015 to 2018 listeriosis outbreak in Europe traced to uncooked non-RTE...

According to public health officials, the number of people who became ill due to a salmonella outbreak linked to Kinder chocolate products has increased to 369 across Europe and North America, including 16 in Ireland. One additional Irish case involving a second strain has been identified in addition to the initial 15, according to the...

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) has welcomed the verdicts of two court cases involving counterfeit alcohol and a firm that continued to trade despite being told to close. The first judgement in Tuam District Court involved the sentencing of three defendants in cases led by the Health Service Executive (HSE) and supported by...

The outbreak is characterized by an unusually high proportion of children being hospitalised, some with severe clinical symptoms such as bloody diarrhea. The majority of the cases are children under 5 years of age. According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, Salmonella Typhimurium matching the human outbreak strain had been identified at Ferrero plant...

An agency in Ireland has warned about the increased risk of Cryptosporidium because of the start of petting zoo season. The Health Service Executive’s Department of Public Health Mid-West is advising people to improve handwashing in and around farm settings, and to test and treat well water, to reduce the risk of infection by Cryptosporidium. The...

There’s a food recall by Ferrero of some Kinder Surprise chocolate products. The Food Safety Authority of Ireland says the products are being pulled due to a link with a food poisoning outbreak of Salmonella. To date, there have been ten cases in Ireland with the same strain of Salmonella responsible for the UK outbreak....