The Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FASFC) conducted over 106,000 inspections last year at approximately 56,000 companies across the food chain. The inspections resulted in a favorable outcome in 85 percent of cases, consistent with the previous year. In instances where a negative report was issued, the FASFC could take various actions, including a warning, report, or seizure. In cases where consumer health was at risk, the agency could order a temporary closure of the company, which occurred 399 times in 2023.
The FASFC also collected food samples from the Belgian market for analysis and out of the 64,648 samples tested, 98 percent met the established standards. This demonstrates a high level of food safety in the country. In addition to this, checks were conducted at over 21,000 companies in the distribution sector and resulted in a positive outcome in only 69.3 percent of cases. Key areas of focus in this sector include providing accurate allergen information to consumers and promoting proper hand hygiene practices.
The food safety barometer showed an improvement by 2.2 percent in Belgium due to several factors such as reduced food poisoning cases and instances of salmonellosis and detection of bacterium campylobacter in meat products. This improvement was driven by collective efforts from all sectors involved in maintaining high standards for consumer health and safety.
In conclusion, David Clarinval, Federal Minister of Agriculture recognized that adhering to food safety regulations is crucial to maintain consumer confidence and promote safe food environment. He commended all professional sectors for their hard work and commitment towards ensuring high standards for food safety regulations are met.
Overall, it is evident that while there have been some successes achieved by FASFC’s inspections and sample testing initiatives; there is still room for improvement particularly in areas like providing accurate allergen labeling to consumers which has led to many recalls attributed to this issue.
With continued collaboration between all stakeholders involved in ensuring safe food production and distribution will be critical towards achieving sustainable progress towards protecting public health through effective implementation of stringent regulatory frameworks on food safety standards.