inter-agency microbiology laboratory meeting
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) is considering the feasibility of holding an inter-agency microbiology laboratory meeting which would provide an opportunity to focus specifically on issues relevant to the official agency laboratories that analyse food samples for microbiological parameters.  The meeting would provide a forum where laboratory representatives from the 17 official agency microbiology laboratories could meet to discuss issues relevant to the laboratory work carried out under service contract to FSAI.  The FSAI has met with the all of the official laboratories involved in chemical analysis of food and has found this to be a very useful exercise.

Recently, the first Irish Zoonoses report was published by the FSAI.  There is currently an increased focus on the area of food surveillance and its importance in ensuring food safety.

Some of the anticipated benefits of such a meeting might include

• Surveillance work - reviewing the national surveillance and survey work carried out by laboratories for example identifying trends in micro-organisms, future surveys/surveillance needs etc.
• Identifying overlaps and gaps in analysis being carried out by official agencies
• An opportunity for laboratory networking and interaction. In many cases laboratory staff working in similar technical areas have very little opportunity to liaise with other official agency staff working in similar technical areas
• Sharing technical expertise – for example sharing experience gained in labs on specific technical issues (e.g. accreditation, method development, uncertainty of measurement)
• Increased use of data - data generated from laboratory analysis should be taken into account by the food inspectorate when organising their work programmes and by scientists and FSAI staff when undertaking risk analysis etc.. Greater distribution and collation of results would add value to the work undertaken by the laboratories. 

Representatives from all official agency microbiology laboratories have been contacted in order to determine the benefit and format of such a meeting. For further information please contact Fiona Byrne on 01 8171369 or fbyrne@fsai.ie.

update from the fvo

The EU Food and Veterinary Office have recently published on its website a report of a mission carried out in Ireland in October 2003.  The purpose of this mission was to evaluate the control of residues in live animals and animal products.

For further information see: http://europa.eu.int/comm/food/fs/inspections/vi/reports/ireland/index_en.html

A regional service contract meeting was held between the FSAI and the Egg Inspectorate of the Department of Agriculture and Food (DAF) during April. The meeting programme included presentations from FSAI on the new Hygiene Package, discussion on the FSAI / Food and Veterinary Office closeout audit scheduled for May 2004, feedback on sampling/inspection activity and an introduction to Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP).  The current DAF work programme was also discussed, which includes the registration of table egg producers, the new stamping rules for eggs and new legislation on the labelling of poultry meat.  In addition, a presentation was given by the National Food Centre on the results and outcome of a 2003 project to examine the levels of veterinary residues in eggs.

local authority regional meetings

The first round of Local Authority Veterinary Service (LAVS) service contract regional meetings was held on 11^th and 13^th May 2004.

The agenda included:

• discussions on funding
• the transfer of the abattoir licensing and meat plant approvals from the Department of Agriculture and Food (DAF) to the local authorities, following the suppression of three posts in DAF for this work
• the Hygiene Package and its implications for the premises and agencies
• the standardisation of working practices among the LAVS
• a new Guidance Note on microbiological sampling under the meat regulations.

Also discussed was the programme of audits of the service contracts.

cross-agency meetings

Following the successful pilot of the cross-agency meeting in the South East region in February 2004, the FSAI has commenced the roll-out of these meetings nationally.  Meetings were held in Sligo (North West Region), Galway (Western Region), Limerick (Mid-Western Region), Cork (Southern Region) and Portlaoise (Midland Region) during May and June. Attendance at all meetings was very good and included regional representatives from health boards (EHOs and laboratory staff), local authorities, Department of Agriculture and Food (Meat Hygiene, Dairy and Egg Inspectorates), Department of Communications, Marine and Natural Resources, the Marine Institute, Office of the Director of Consumer Affairs and Customs and Excise.  The programme included presentations from agency representatives, an FSAI presentation on the new Hygiene Package and breakout sessions with the aim of identifying current gaps in inter-agency communication and how inter-agency co-ordination and communication can be improved.  The outcome of the meetings included proposals for initiatives that would improve cross-agency working. The FSAI will be following up on these with the official agencies. The final meetings will be held in the coming weeks.

health board food safety legislation committee

The inaugural meeting of this committee was held on 10^th May 2004 and was attended by representatives from the Department of Health and Children, the Environmental Health Service, the official food microbiology laboratories and the public analyst laboratories of the health boards, as well as representatives from the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI).  The purpose of the group will be to consider the implications of new and revised food control legislation for the health boards, in fulfilment of their service contract with the FSAI, to assess enforcement priority as specified in schedule six of the service contracts and to assess the training needs of the health boards’ food control service arising from new and/or revised legislation.