EU inspections satisfied with food safety controls… but controls on food additives found lacking

This is the result of an audit carried out by the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) in Malta in February 2010 to evaluate the implementation of EU legislation in the area of general food hygiene, food additives (FA) and food contact materials (FCM).

Staff resources allocated for inspection duties relating to official controls of food safety were found to be adequate. Malta currently has 83 inspectors for food and environmental health purposes. 24 of these are involved in food premises inspections.

But additional staff are needed at the Public Health Laboratory, the only laboratory facility in Malta which is designated to analyse samples taken in official controls, which currently employs 38 people.

The microbiology section currently employs 11 technical staff; one scientific officer, one pharmacist and nine medical laboratory scientists. Staff in the chemical laboratory include eight technical staff; five scientific officers and three medical laboratory scientists.
The main shortcoming with regards to Food Hygiene controls is the lack of guidelines provided by the competent authorities to inspectors leading to inadequate assessment of food hazards.

The report claims that staff responsible for examining food additives have not received sufficient training to undertake their duties competently and their knowledge and experience was limited.

An inspection in a food processing company showed that Maltese inspectors had no practical experience of undertaking official controls in this area. Official monitoring system of the consumption and use of food additives is also inexistent. Controls on labelling were also found to be satisfactory.

An inspection in a supermarket showed that all products reviewed, ranging from frozen products, bakery products, soft drinks, meat products and vegetable products were found to be in compliance with all labeling legislation.

The report also concludes that Malta has a satisfactory system in place for the labeling of food allergens.

In 2009 the Maltese authorities have issued 21 contravention notices were in connection with food labeling. Of these, eight pre packed foodstuffs had no label at all and three had no expiry date, three products showed tampered labeling and another three labels were not in one of the languages accepted in Malta. One contravention order was issued because no manufacturers address was written.