COMPLAINTS TO THE Food Safety Authority of Ireland’s (FSAI) advice line increased by close to a fifth last year, when compared to 2021.

4,058 complaints from consumers were handled by the FSAI’s advice line last year.

The compares to the 3,414 complaints handled in 2021, an 18.9% annual increase and a continuation of the upwards trend experienced over the past decade.

A majority of the complaints (31%) related to unfit food, with the FSAI receiving 1,258 complaints regarding this in 2022.

Complaints regarding unfit food cited meats not being cooked completely, mould on food products, food being sold past its use-by date, and food served cold instead of hot.

“Foreign body contamination” of food was also frequently reported last year.

Commonly reported objects in food included: pieces of glass; wood; plastic; paper; metal; hairs; small stones; medicine tablets; and insects.

This included a live snail being found in a pack of spinach, live maggots in fried chicken, and part of a disposable glove in a rocky road biscuit.

Other examples included a dirty and possibly bloody plaster in a curry, a false nail in garlic cheese chips, a piece of glass in coffee beans, and metal shavings in chicken wings.

The second highest number of complaints related to food hygiene standards, at 1,124 or 28% of complaints.

Hygiene issues reported included fish deliveries being left outside in the sun, excessive flies and overall dirty food business premises, and rodent droppings spotted.

Other issues included bathrooms lacking soap and staff not washing hands.

1,122 complaints were also lodged around reports of suspected food poisoning, while 150 related to food labelling and 127 related to a failure to display allergy information.

All of these complaints were followed up by the FSAI and investigated by food inspectors.

There were also 3,305 food safety queries from people working in the food service sector.

This included queriers about best practice in food businesses and food safety legislation and food supplement legislation.

Dr Pamela Byrne, Chief Executive of the FSAI, said the reporting of food safety issues plays a vital role in complementing the work of the food safety inspectorate.

She commended members of the public, as well as the food industry, for reporting food safety issues.

While Dr Byrne noted that routine inspections are carried out across the country, complaints assist the FSAI in targeting an issue and ensuring possible threats to public health are dealt with quickly.

She added that 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”.

“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,” said Dr Byrne.

The FSAI Advice Line is open from 10am to 4pm on weekdays and is operated by food scientists and trained advisors.

They can be reached at info@fsai.ie or through the online complaint form ‘make it better’ on the FSAI website.