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2. INSPECTIONS

2.1. Priorities of inspections in 2003

Within the assigned competences the Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority (CAFIA) inspects foodstuffs, raw materials for the production of foodstuffs, agricultural products, soap products, detergents, and tobacco products. The above competences apply to the production, storage, transport and sale (including import).

As in previous years, the inspections in 2003 were particularly focused on food safety and quality with regard to disclosing adulteration. It means that the priority was given to the protection of consumer health and his/her economic concerns as well as the protection of honest entrepreneurs. These essential goals were substantially reflected in all CAFIA inspections.

The inspections focused on food safety included extensive events held, for example, in the framework of the planned inspection of contaminants in foodstuffs or planned inspections of microbiological standards as well as the events that flexibly responded to the situation in the market (the case of the “kosher - children soya milk”; drinks contaminated with an unknown substance able to burn the consumer’s mucous membrane; dry mushrooms contaminated with Salmonella; foodstuffs from flooded areas; etc.).

The inspections the priority of which was to disclose adulteration included, for example, the inspection of the authenticity of orange juices; inspection of the labelling of selected meat products; inspection of honey; inspection of the authenticity of varieties and uniformity of consumer potatoes; inspection of bakery and confectionery products labelled as ‘produced with butter’; inspection of imported cocoa; etc.  
For more information regarding the above (and many other) cases see this report or the CAFIA web site.

In deciding what the inspection should focus on, as regards both the inspections planned in a long-term and the inspections representing an immediate reaction to a topical problem, we always consider the maximum of available information. With the gradual integration of the Czech Republic to the European structures the resources for this information are also expanding.

Many incentives for inspections, which today can be already considered as traditional (such as, for example, the findings of previous inspections; consumer complaints; mass media information; contacts with foreign partnering organizations) have been recently supplemented by others, such as the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed, RASFF.

In the past period the actual performance of inspections was significantly influenced by the changes of legislation, which should ensure the maximum compliance of the Czech law with the EC law, and by the ongoing continuous development of the food industry (such as the introduction of new products, production and storage technologies, or new materials). This has increased the demand on the qualification and work of inspectors, laboratory staff and managers and required the employment of new approaches that have to appropriately respond to the above changes.