Food safety rules ‘vital’

Almost three small food businesses in four believe that food safety regulations are vital in building consumer confidence.

A new Food Safety Authority of Ireland survey has found that while 32% of small food businesses find food safety regulations to be among their most demanding and onerous tasks, some 72% see them as essential to promoting consumer confidence. Some 80% emphatically trust the authority to deal with businesses fairly.

The authority’s director Dr Wayne Anderson said: “The Government has a vision that the food sector in Ireland will form one of the main drivers for the return to economic prosperity. Small and medium sized food businesses are the lifeblood of growth in the sector. These survey results provide a lot of informative feedback to us in how we can best work with and support food entrepreneurs.”