Factors affecting effectiveness of food control inspections in food production establishments in Finland

Mikko Kosola,Katri Kiviniemi,Janne Lundén

doi:10.1038/s41598-022-08204-1

Abstract

Inspections are an important tool for food control. However, there is a lack of knowledge about how inspection history, interval between inspections, and pre-announcement of the inspection affect compliance with food safety legislation in food production establishments. We used register-based meat, fish, and dairy establishment food control inspection data (5550 inspections from 757 establishments) from Finland in 2016–2019 to study compliance in relation to these factors. Hypothesis was that there is an association between inspection grades and (1) inspection history, (2) interval, and (3) pre-announcement. Results indicate that minor non-compliances that do not impair food safety often precede future more severe non-compliances (5.3% non-compliance rate if full compliance at previous inspection compared to 16.8% non-compliance rate if minor non-compliances at previous inspection [Fisher’s exact test, p < 0.0001]), and that longer inspection intervals are associated with a decrease in inspection grades (5.9% difference in inspection intervals for inspection with full compliance compared to inspections with severe non-compliances [Generalized estimating equations, p = 0.02]). In addition, pre-announcement of the inspection affects the inspection grades, severe non-compliances were 2.4 times more common at unannounced inspections compared to pre-announced inspections. To conclude, there is an association between inspection grades and inspection history, inspection interval, and inspection announcement.

Highlights

Inspections are an important tool for food control
The risk level determines the frequency of inspections at the respective establishment. These guidelines state that the inspection history can have an effect on inspection frequency; an excellent inspection history can lead to a 50% decrease in inspection frequency
When looking at inspections for which the overall grade of the previous inspection was B, the number of inspection items graded B at the previous inspection correlated with the overall inspection grade of the inspection, meaning that inferior overall grades were associated with more inspection items graded B at the previous inspection (Spearman correlation coefficient 0.43, p < 0.0001)

Summary

Introduction

There is a lack of knowledge about how inspection history, interval between inspections, and pre-announcement of the inspection affect compliance with food safety legislation in food production establishments. Hypothesis was that there is an association between inspection grades and (1) inspection history, (2) interval, and (3) pre-announcement. To our knowledge the effect of inspection history on inspection grades at food production establishments has not been studied in Finland or elsewhere. By increasing knowledge about the effects of inspection frequency on compliance, more sophisticated models for the determination of inspection frequency can be used when future food control guidelines are established. The authors reported that the frequency of inspections correlated positively with FBOs’ perceptions of the relevance of non-compliances to food safety and the attitudes of FBOs toward food control. An association between inspection interval and inspection grades was not demonstrated in r estaurants[5]

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Discussion

Conclusion