The Food Safety Inspectorate is responsible for monitoring businesses, facilities, food products, and processes involved in the production, preparation, handling, storage, distribution, and sale of food.
Its primary purpose is to help ensure that food offered to consumers is safe, appropriately handled, and produced or distributed in accordance with applicable food safety laws, regulations, standards, and other requirements.
Food safety regulation generally involves controls throughout the food supply chain, from food production and processing through distribution and final sale to consumers.
Food establishments may be inspected to determine whether their premises, equipment, processes, practices, and food-handling activities comply with applicable requirements.
Depending on the type of establishment, inspections may examine:
Food products may be inspected to determine whether they meet applicable requirements relating to safety, composition, labeling, packaging, storage, and other characteristics.
Product inspections may involve visual examination, document review, sampling, or laboratory testing.
Activities may include:
Sampling and laboratory testing may be used where compliance cannot be established through physical inspection or document review alone.
Samples may be tested for characteristics relevant to food safety, quality, composition, contamination, or other regulatory requirements.
Laboratory results provide objective evidence that can support compliance assessments and regulatory decisions.
Food businesses may be required to register with the regulatory authority before operating or handling food within the regulated sector.
Registration provides the authority with information about the establishment and its activities and establishes a regulatory record that can be used for inspection planning and ongoing monitoring.
Registration information may include:
Where an inspection identifies conditions that do not comply with applicable requirements, the inspectorate may require corrective action or take other regulatory measures.
Depending on the nature and severity of the non-compliance, action may include:
Regulatory action should be proportionate to the nature and seriousness of the risk and should be consistent with applicable legislation and enforcement procedures.
Complaints from consumers, businesses, or other stakeholders can provide important information about potential food safety problems.
A complaint may lead to an investigation, inspection, product sampling, laboratory testing, or other regulatory activity.
The results of an investigation can be recorded against the relevant establishment, product, inspection, or other regulatory record, providing a traceable history of the matter.
Food safety inspection can benefit significantly from a risk-based approach. Different food establishments and activities may present different levels of potential risk to consumers.
Factors that may be considered when prioritizing inspections include:
Risk-based information can help the inspectorate focus resources where they are most likely to reduce food safety risks.
Food safety regulation generates a range of records that should be maintained throughout the regulatory lifecycle.
These may include:
Connecting these records allows authorized personnel to obtain a comprehensive view of the regulatory history of a food establishment or product.
The Food Safety Inspectorate provides an important layer of protection within the food supply chain by monitoring food establishments, products, and food-handling practices.
Through inspection, sampling, testing, investigation, compliance assessment, and enforcement, the inspectorate helps reduce food safety risks and promote compliance with applicable requirements.
In JMTS, food safety activities can be managed through an integrated regulatory workflow covering establishment registration, inspections, findings, sampling, laboratory results, complaints, corrective actions, follow-up activities, and enforcement records.