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The Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority (CAFIA) carried out a total of 44,218 entries into food businesses, public catering establishments, customs warehouses, and online shops in 2021.

Out of this number, CAFIA inspectors carried out 28,893 inspection entries into retails, 8,911 entries into catering establishments, 10,030 entries into food production, 2,360 inspections of warehouses, 1,160 of primary production, 2,035 of other places, e.g. during transport, customs warehouses, etc.

Last year, CAFIA found a total of 3,202 non-compliant lots of foodstuffs and other products, which represents about 24% of the assessed samples.

In terms of the country of origin, last year the inspectors found the highest level of deficiencies in foodstuffs imported from so-called third countries, while the lowest proportion of non-compliant samples was confirmed by inspections carried out at domestic producers. In the case of foodstuffs from third countries, 26.8% of the evaluated lots failed to comply with the requirements of national or European legislation. As regards foodstuffs originating in EU countries, 19.8% of the lots checked were non-compliant, while 16.2% of Czech foodstuffs were non-compliant.

In 2021, CAFIA carried out a total of 8,911 inspections in restaurants, bistros, pubs, bars, confectioneries and other types of public catering establishments and found 1,878 violations of legal regulations. The inspectors found violations in about one in five inspections of this segment. During the inspections specifically focused on compliance with hygiene regulations, 26% of the inspected establishments failed to comply (1,632 cases of non-compliance with good hygiene practice). Compared to the results of inspections performed between 2015 and 2020, the current results of inspections of public catering establishments show a slight improvement, however, the current situation cannot be assessed as satisfactory, and CAFIA will therefore continue to pay increased attention to this segment.

In connection with the extraordinary growth of online sales, the CAFIA inspectors carried out a total of 1,254 inspections directly focused on online sale of foodstuffs. CAFIA is also increasingly focusing on inspecting foodstuffs offered or promoted on online social networks, online auctions, bazaars, etc. The most frequently inspected commodity was food supplements. Currently, over 5,200 operators offering food via online trade are registered at CAFIA.

In 2021, 2,407 administrative proceedings against food business operators were finally concluded, in which fines totalling to CZK 90,248,500 were imposed. At the same time, CAFIA imposed 11,285 bans on the marketing of foodstuffs last year, and the total value of the banned foodstuffs amounted to CZK 58,828,714.

For the full text of the 2021 Annual Report, see the CAFIA website.

Article by: Mgr. Pavel Kopřiva – CAFIA Spokesperson, phone: +420 542 426 633   

2^nd May 2022