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Number Of FSA Food Incidents Falls

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Number Of FSA Food Incidents Falls

A total of 1604 food and environmental contamination incidents in the UK were reported to and investigated by the UK's Food Standards Agency (FSA) last year, according to its latest annual report of food incidents, published Friday, 28 June.

This figure was down by 110 on the number recorded in 2011, but higher than in many previous years.

The three largest contributors to these incidents were microbiological contamination (20%), environmental contamination (15%) and natural chemical contamination (13%).

According to the Agency, 'One of the valuable roles played by the report is providing insight into why certain types of incident have increased', with FSA investigations showing that a recent rise in a certain type of salmonella was 'mostly the result of paan leaves imported from Bangladesh', according to the FSA.

The report also focused on the FSA's 'key priorities in 2012', the London Olympics and Paralympic Games, noting that 'dspite the huge volume of food served during its duration (estimated at 14 million meals), the FSA dealt with just 22 food safety incidents with potential links to the Games', according to the Agency.

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While the period of reporting does not cover the horsemeat scandal, the report shows a significant rise in the number off whistleblowers who contacted the Agency during the year. A total of 81 cases originated from whistleblowers during 2012, up from 54 the previous year.

Catherine Brown, chief executive of the Food Standards Agency, said, "We hope that this annual report encourages food businesses and consumers to notify us promptly of incidents and of any other potentially-useful intelligence they have. This will enable us to act swiftly to protect the public and the food industry and, in so doing, increase public confidence in food safety."

She added, "Although the horsemeat incident occurred outside the scope of this report, I would like to highlight the resolve with which the FSA responded. Working closely with other Government departments and the food industry, the Agency ensured that 6,000 tests of frozen products were carried out within three weeks – far more than any other EU member state. The UK was also the first country to submit a dossier to Europol and the first country to make arrests.

"By responding so quickly, we were able to reassure the public that more than 99% of the tests undertaken in the UK contained no horse DNA at the level of 1% or above, and that there was no threat to public health." (1 July)

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Read the FSA's Annual Report of Incidents for 2012 here

 

© 2013 - ESM: European Supermarket Magazine by Ellen Lunney

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