The controls of veterinary health and food safety inspectors in the sector of food products of non-animal origin targeted operators in the food industry, who operate in areas such as: the manufacture of milling products, bread and pastry products, other food products, soft drinks and alcohol.

During the month of February 2024, the County Sanitary, Veterinary and Food Safety Directorates, as well as that of the Municipality of Bucharest, carried out 11,254 controls in the agro-food industry units.

As a result of the detected irregularities and the violation of the provisions of the legislation in the field of food safety, 259 contraventional sanctions were applied, in a total amount of 2,104,000 lei.

The verification actions carried out at national level on the basis of the Supervision and Control Program for the year 2024 concerned aspects regarding the observance by food operators of the conditions of registration, authorization and operation of the units, of the way of maintenance and sanitation of the spaces where the food products are manipulated, processing and storage conditions of raw materials and finished products, traceability requirements and those regarding labeling, pest control, document records and information regarding the implementation of procedures based on risk analysis (HACCP system).

The controls carried out by ANSVSA inspectors mainly focus on prevention and counseling of operators in the food industry. Contraventional sanctions are granted when the initially identified deficiencies have not been remedied within the established time frame or endanger the health of consumers.

Following the checks carried out, a number of irregularities were found, among which we mention:

non-conformities regarding the monitoring and implementation of procedures based on HACCP principles;

non-conformities regarding compliance with good hygiene and manufacturing practices, such as non-hygienic maintenance of storage spaces, inadequate maintenance of technological production spaces, lack of changing rooms and sanitary facilities for employees, failure to ensure adequate stocks of substances intended for disinfection operations, failure to carry out DDD operations under the conditions of the legislation specific to the food field;

non-conformities regarding the working staff (failure to prepare skill sheets, failure to carry out the hygiene course, failure to certify the health status of the staff);

non-conformities related to ensuring the traceability and conformity of food products (labelling, analysis reports with unsatisfactory results, improper packaging, food products with organoleptic changes);

other types of non-conformities such as carrying out unregistered sanitary-veterinary and food safety activities, non-compliance with the requirements for the import of food products, failure to initiate the product recall procedure, failure to withdraw the non-compliant product from the shelf, transporting food with unregistered sanitary-veterinary means and for food safety.

During the controls carried out in the units of the agro-food industry, samples were taken for laboratory analysis, according to the procedures and instructions of the Supervision and Control Program, monitoring the conformity of the food products, their quality within the maximum allowed limits, regarding the presence of pesticide residues, contaminants and other prohibited substances in food.

Also, samples were taken from work surfaces/utensils in food industry units, in order to verify compliance with respect to microbiological criteria in food. Documentary Communication and Logistics Service (Photo: Freepik)