QUERIES FROM individuals hoping to open a new food business increased by 50 per cent last year, the Food Safety Authority of Ireland said yesterday.
The rise may reflect the downturn in the economy as people look for new business opportunities, authority chief executive Prof Alan Reilly said.
The increase in new business inquiries to the authority’s advice line also showed that people wanted to set up a food business in the correct manner, he said.
The organisation yesterday launched a guide to food law for artisan and small food producers who had started or planned to start a new business.
The guide covers the legal requirements needed for operating a food business, including safety, traceability, training, hygiene, packaging and additives.
It will allow new members of the food industry to be “self-sufficient in setting up their food business in the correct way”, Prof Reilly said.
However, one of the biggest problems for local producers is the variation in interpretation of these laws by environmental health officers in different HSE areas, said Ruth Hegarty of Euro-toques Ireland, a group which promotes use of local producers’ products by chefs. “What is required of producers in Cork can be different from producers in Meath, so things are often not very clear,” she said.
The amount of legal requirements for food producers was putting off new people from starting a food business or holding people back from expanding because of the level of investment needed, she said.
“A small butcher may be told he needs a dedicated production area for pudding, but sales could never justify building a new room on to premises,” she said.
The increase in queries may be from struggling farmers. “They are hard pushed and trying to find alternative ways to add value to their farm,” she said.
Cork food market trader Caroline Robinson welcomed the guide. Sticking to the rules was not difficult, but some people can be put off. “It shouldn’t be daunting, as food safety is very common-sense – mainly being clean and hygienic.”
There were a lot more people getting into the industry, partly because they had lost their jobs and because of a demand for local produce, she said.
The guide is available on the authority’s website, www.fsai.ie.
