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The Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority (CAFIA) endorses the amening proposal to the amendment to Act on Foodstuffs and Tobacco Products No. 110/1997 Coll. providing for further unification of supervision over requirements of food legislation in open public catering facilities (which are for example restaurants, bars, cafés, fast foods), namely under authority of CAFIA. The Members of the Parliament are supposed to vote on the amendment this week.

In the Czech Republic, there are currently c. 45,000 premises of public catering facilities of the so-called open type. CAFIA inspectors can perform inspections in 30,000 of them where supervision has been carried out instead of Regional Hygiene Service bodies for more than 6 years.

CAFIA as the only supervisory authority in the CR checks the whole spectrum of requirements laid down by legislation: (1.) hygiene requirements – ensuring operational hygiene (regular cleaning, sanitisation), prevention of dissemination of diseases originating from food, procedures for pests regulation; (2.) microbiological inspection – presence of harmful microorganisms, for example Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Campylobacter spp., Escherichia coli, noroviruses, microbiological hygiene criteria – coliform bacteria, enterococcus; (3.) personal hygiene – health eligibility of employees; (4.) food safety – for example burnt oils, contaminated ice for preparation of beverages, non-compliant ice creams failing for microbiology; (5.) labelling – for example allergens; (6.) quality and adulteration of foodstuffs – for example substituting more expensive meat sorts by cheaper ones, plant substitutes instead of cheese, cream, etc.

CAFIA regards as unsustainable that 30,000 premises providing public catering services are submitted to complex inspections starting from hygiene requirements including health eligibility of employees, safety, adulteration and quality of meals to labelling one hand, while inspections in the remaining 15,000 premises outside the authority of CAFIA would be focused primarily on hygiene, but further aspects of food legislation including adulteration would play here utterly marginal role on the other hand. This creates unequal conditions for business persons and double standard of consumers’ protection rights.

The act amendment in question will enable CAFIA inspectors entering also to the remaining 15,000 premises which will logically integrate inspection authority under one supervision body. This ensures unified inspection procedures in the whole open public catering segment in the CR, namely in a complex scope of food legislation including proper focus on the matter of food and meal adulteration. The amendment also ensures unification of the amount of fines imposed for individual legal classifications.

This will be beneficial not only to fair operators as inspections in all restaurants will be performed according to the unified requirements, but also to consumers as the same standard  will be applied to safety and quality of meals offered in all restaurants. The amendment will not threat health of consumers or cause neglecting of prevention as CAFIA supervision is focused on prevention as well, and CAFIA, since its establishment, has been carrying out this type of supervision in risky premises, such as food production, as well.

Regional Hygiene Service bodies will keep on performing of supervision in c. 15.000 premises of “closed” catering (for example in schools, nursery schools, retirement houses, hospitals, summer camps). Authorisation of RHS to perform epidemiological supervision in all food business premises (in particular in production, retail, restaurants) will not be affected as in the case of need of epidemiological supervision, CAFIA and RHS fully co-operate and exchange necessary information or participate in joint inspection activities.

CAFIA, as the centrally managed authority, checks the requirements in the whole scope of food legislation on the whole territory of the CR on high professional level in a unified, predictable and transparent manner. Its results are systematically released on one place – www.potravinynapranyri.cz and on social networks Twitter and Instagram. This popular and intensively used application was several times awarded the best publicly beneficial application of the year in the prestigious competition – Crystal Magnifying Glass – Award of the Czech Internet.

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

18^th January 2021