Two audits by the European Commission’s health and safety unit have looked at checks on the food of non-animal origin (FNAO) in Hungary and Bulgaria. An audit by DG Sante, in May and June 2022 in Hungary, found a shortage of staff and experience was weakening the system of official controls. The focus was on primary production, frozen products, pre-cut fruit and vegetables, sprouts, and seeds intended for sprouting.
Development of a guide on GAP for fruit and vegetable production, including information on how to prevent microbiological contamination for primary producers, is still underway, as it was during the previous audit in 2019. Progress was noted in the official control system on FNAO and three of six recommendations made in 2019 had been addressed by the 2022 assessment.
Issues throughout the supply chain
In processing plants, there were 167 official inspections out of 183 planned visits and 20 non-compliances were detected for issues such as hygiene, hazard analysis and critical control points, maintenance, pest control, health certificates for workers, sample analysis plans, and risk classification of products.
Source: foodsafetynews.com