Food Safety Authority of Ireland

The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) is an independent statutory organisation. It was established by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland Act, 1998.

The FSAI protects consumers by ensuring that standards for food safety and hygiene are met when food is consumed, produced, distributed or marketed in Ireland. It works with other official agencies, including the Health Service Executive (HSE), to enforce food safety legislation in Ireland.

This page explains what the FSAI does, how food safety laws are enforced, and how to make a complaint about a food premises.

The FSAI is responsible for:

• Sending food safety inspectors to test food samples for contamination
• Referring complaints about food safety from the public to the relevant Environmental Health Office
• Training food safety inspectors and other food industry workers about food law
• Telling the public when there is a food safety issue, such as a product recall or restaurant closure
• Investigating food labels and fraudulent food
• Developing food safety guidelines
• Advising on national nutrition policy

The FSAI also works with other state agencies to ensure that food law is enforced, including the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority and the Health Service Executive (HSE).

Read more about the role of the FSAI on its website.

Food safety assurance schemes

The FSAI may, either on its own or with food producers, set up schemes to protect consumer interests – for example, the Bord Bia Quality Assurance schemes.

These food safety schemes cover:

• The promotion of best practice guidelines
• The preparation of guidelines on raw materials, processing, packaging, preparation, storage and handling

The FSAI has service contracts with other official agencies, including the HSE and the Sea-Fisheries Protection Authority, to make sure all food premises comply with food safety laws. The FSAI is responsible for:

• Co-ordinating the enforcement of food safety legislation in Ireland
• Supporting Ireland’s food safety regulators (such as Environmental Health Officers) to implement a fair, consistent and effective system of enforcement
• Managing risks in the food chain and responding to any national or international food incidents
• Ensuring the safety of the food chain by detecting, deterring and preventing breaches of food law
• Researching food safety through coordinated studies and scientific collaboration

The FSAI can also seek reports from any state body on matters affecting food safety. It reports to the Minister for Health.

Environmental Health Officers

The FSAI works with Environmental Health Officers from the HSE to inspect food premises.

Environmental Health Officers can:

• Enter and inspect food premises
• Secure a food premises for later inspection
• Inspect and, if necessary, remove records
• Take samples of food or related materials, and have these samples analysed

It is an offence to obstruct an officer carrying out this duty.

You can find contact details for your local Environmental Health Officer on the HSE website.

Improvement notices

If the Environmental Health Officer finds that a premises or a practice (such as food handling or preparation) is likely to be a risk to public health, they may give the owner an improvement notice. This includes:

• The cause of the risk to public health
• The remedial action that needs to be taken
• The time limit for the owner to take remedial action

Improvement orders

If the owner does not carry out the improvements as recommended by the authorised officer, the FSAI or HSE may seek an improvement order from the District Court. An improvement order outlines what needs to be improved upon, and the timeframe within which the owner needs to do it.

Closure orders

If there is an immediate danger to public health, the authorised officer may issue a closure order. This means the owner must close all or part of the food premises until the issue has been resolved. A closure order may also be issued if an improvement order is not acted on.

Closure and prohibition orders are listed on the FSAI website.

You can read about the orders and enforcement powers that the FSAI has. 

You can make a formal complaint about food poisoning by either contacting your local Environmental Health Officer or by contacting the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI).

You can complete a complaint form on the FSAI website. This form is confidential and will not be shared with the restaurant or shop you are complaining about.

The FSAI will send your completed form to a HSE Environmental Health Officer who will then investigate your complaint.

You can also ring the FSAI on 0818 33 66 77 or email info@fsai.ie