Complaints about food safety have increased by almost a fifth in 2022, the Food Safety Authority Ireland has reported.
Among the most shocking complaints were live maggots in fried chicken, a false nail in garlic cheese chips, a live snail in a pack of spinach, and a dirty and possibly bloody plaster in a curry. Other complaints included metal shavings in chicken wings, a piece of glass in coffee beans and part of a disposable glove in a rocky road biscuit.
The FSAI said they handled a total of 7,363 queries and complaints last year: more than 4,000 of them were from consumers, with 31 per cent of complaints relating to unfit food and 28 per cent to poor hygiene standards. Overall, the 2022 complaints saw a nearly 19 per cent increase compared with 2021 figures, continuing an overall upwards trend over the past decade.
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One of the most frequently reported issues was foreign body contamination of food. Commonly reported objects in food included pieces of glass, wood, plastic, paper, metal, hairs, small stones, medicine tablets, and insects. There were also complaints regarding unfit food which cited meats not being cooked completely, mould found on food products, food on sale past their use-by date, and food served cold instead of hot.
Poor hygiene standards was the second most frequently reported issue. Examples included poor staff hygiene habits such as staff not washing their hands, fish deliveries left outside in the sun, excessive flies and overall dirty food business premises, rodent droppings spotted and bathrooms lacking soap.
Other consumer complaints ranged from reports of suspected food poisoning to a failure to display allergen information. The breakdown of complaints are as follows:
- Unfit food: 1,258
- Hygiene standards: 1,124
- Suspect food poisoning: 1,122
- Labelling: 150
- Allergen information: 127
- Unregistered food business: 63
- Others: 214
The authority says all complaints received by them in 2022 were followed up and investigated by food inspectors throughout the country. FSAI chief Dr Pamela Byrne said the reporting of food safety issues plays a vital role in complementing the work of the food safety inspectorate.
She said: “While they carry out routine inspections throughout the country and analyse food samples, complaints assist in targeting an issue and ensure possible threats to public health are dealt with quickly. The increase in complaints is a positive indication of people’s heightened awareness of their right to expect high standards of hygiene and food safety in relation to food... We encourage anyone who encounters poor hygiene or food safety standards in a food business to report the matter to the FSAI, so that it can be investigated by the relevant food safety inspectorate."
The FSAI Advice Line is open during usual working hours from 10am to 4pm weekdays, manned by food scientists and trained advisors and can be reached at info@fsai.ie or through the online complaint form "make it better" on the FSAI website.
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