Irish Seafood Agency Reveals Major Incidents in 2023

An Irish agency responsible for seafood safety has published its annual report, revealing the number of food safety incidents investigated in 2023.

The Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority (SFPA) was involved in 25 reports of alleged illnesses following the consumption of fishery products or live bivalve mollusks.

Sea-Fisheries Protection Officers (SFPOs) carried out 2,297 food safety official controls across 2,325 premises. Of these checks, 535 were inspections of approved establishments, and 1,553 consisted of official controls, such as checks prior to certifying a consignment of food being exported to a non-EU country and temperature and labeling checks.

Food safety controls

SFPA responded to 61 incidents mentioning concerns regarding the safety or quality of food, which required examination in the interests of public health. Fifteen were associated with the EU’s Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF). Ireland was the notifying country in four RASFF alerts.

Sixteen incidents resulted from unsatisfactory results regarding microbiological or chemical food safety criteria, and thirteen cases resulted in a product recall or withdrawal.

A total of 1,343 samples were taken. Three-quarters of these were fish, fishery products, or live bivalve mollusk samples for microbiological or chemical analysis. Other sample types were water, ice, or seawater, and environmental swabs.

Six complaints were received. They varied from labeling issues to concerns about food safety information on a company’s website.

Seafood safety enforcement ranged from informal advisory measures to issuing compliance notices and opening criminal prosecutions for serious non-compliance. In 2023, four prosecutions for offenses under food safety legislation were initiated before the courts, two of which led to convictions and fines imposed on the business for breaches of food hygiene, traceability, and food premises requirements under the EU food safety law.

A dozen compliance notices, four improvement orders, one prohibition order, and nine fixed payment notices were issued.

A total of 2,222 inspections of fishing vessels were undertaken, an increase from 1,903 in the previous year. Eighty-five case files were opened, including 63 sea-fisheries law enforcement cases and 22 food safety law enforcement ones.

Trade and wider role

A confidential service encouraging people to report concerns to the SFPA received 81 contacts. There were various issues raised, such as illegal and overfishing in Irish waters, unlicensed fishing, sale of undersize lobsters, and concerns regarding inshore fishing

Through the provision of export health certification, SFPA enabled the export of 3,802 consignments of seafood totaling 49,782 tons and 23 species from 44 businesses to 41 countries outside the EU.

At the EU level, the SFPA presented possible revisions to key pieces of legislation relevant to placing live bivalve mollusks on the market. In another EU expert group, issues discussed were tuna fraud, intermediary operators in the shellfish supply chain, super chilling of fishery products, and amendments to EU Regulation 853/2004 on the hygiene of foods of animal origin.

Paschal Hayes, executive chairperson of the SFPA, said: “In a challenging climate for Ireland’s sea-fisheries and seafood sector in 2023, the SFPA continued to provide regulatory oversight of our sea-fishing fleet and our seafood processing sector, underpinning the sustainability and safety of our internationally renowned seafood offering. The SFPA demonstrated its capacity as the effective, fair regulator and promoter of compliance with sea-fisheries and seafood safety law throughout the year.”

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