Digitalization and official food safety inspections at retail establishments
Por:
Grau-Noguer E., Suppi R., Rodríguez-Sanz M., Serratosa J., Bolao A., Lundén J., Hau P., Melo de Vasconcelos F., Åberg R., Blomgren C., Lambert M., Leppik K., Vågsholm I., Kautto A.H., Lueckl J., Abeln-Richter S., Kamphausen R., Bammens E., Georgiades F., Altenburgs J., Portaña S.
Publicada:
1 ene 2023
Ahead of Print:
1 jul 2023
Resumen:
Digital technologies offer unprecedented opportunities to modernize official food safety control. Shift from paper- to digital-based systems enable recording and reporting data directly in digital format and further analyze and disclose inspection data. Further to this, digital technologies enable the automatization of processes through rule-based instructions, a fact that could positively influence the consistency of official control. Nevertheless, the extent of the use of digital technologies during official food safety control inspections by competent authorities (CAs) of European Union (EU) countries is not known. For this reason, the aim of this study was to assess the level of use of a digital environment during inspections at retail establishments. This was performed by administering a questionnaire to CAs from EU countries. A total of 88 national, regional or local CAs from 15 EU countries responded to the questionnaire. Of them, 62.5% (55/88) used a digital environment during inspections, the majority to standardize data collection and reporting. CAs autotomize processes through digital technologies related to the management of official control and generation of inspection results, but to a lesser extent to automatize decision-making during inspections. Of the CAs not using a digital environment (37.5%; 33/88), technological constraints and lack of economic resources were the two most prevalent reasons for not using such an environment. The use of digital technologies as decision support tools to standardize official controls and improve consistency and efficiency should be enhanced for the benefit of society.
Filiaciones:
Grau-Noguer E.:
Departament de Ciència Animal i dels Aliments, Facultat de Veterinària, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola Del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona (Public Health Agency, Barcelona, ASPB), Barcelona, Spain
Suppi R.:
Departament d'Arquitectura de Computadors i Sistemes Operatius, Escola d'Enginyeria, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Barcelona, Spain
Rodríguez-Sanz M.:
Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona (Public Health Agency, Barcelona, ASPB), Barcelona, Spain
CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), Madrid, Spain
Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica (IIB Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain
Serratosa J.:
Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR), Berlin, Germany
Bolao A.:
Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona (Public Health Agency, Barcelona, ASPB), Barcelona, Spain
Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica (IIB Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain
Lundén J.:
Department of Food Hygiene and Environmental Health, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Hau P.:
Luxemburg Veterinary and Food Administration (ALVA), Ministry of Agriculture, Viticulture and Rural Development, Luxembourg
Melo de Vasconcelos F.:
Economic and Food Safety Authority (ASAE), Lisbon, Portugal
Åberg R.:
Food Safety Unit, Environmental Services, City of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland
Blomgren C.:
Environmental Health Services, City of Porvoo, Porvoo, Finland
Lambert M.:
Federal Agency for the Safety of the Food Chain (FAVV-AFSCA), Brussels, Belgium
Leppik K.:
Agriculture and Food Board, Tallinn, Estonia
Vågsholm I.:
Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Sweden
Kautto A.H.:
Department of Biomedical Sciences and Veterinary Public Health, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Uppsala, Sweden
Department of Control Support, Swedish National Food Agency, Uppsala, Sweden
Lueckl J.:
Department of Data, Statistics and Risk Assessment, Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety (AGES), Graz, Austria
Abeln-Richter S.:
Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection of the State of Lower Saxony, Hannover, Germany
Kamphausen R.:
Ministry for Environment, Agriculture, Conservation and Consumer Protection of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (MULNV), Düsseldorf, Germany
Bammens E.:
Netherlands Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority (NVWA), Utrecht, Netherlands
Georgiades F.:
Environmental and Public Health Services, Ministry of Health, Nicosia, Cyprus
Altenburgs J.:
Food and Veterinary Service, Ministry of Agriculture, Riga, Latvia
Portaña S.:
Agència de Salut Pública de Barcelona (Public Health Agency, Barcelona, ASPB), Barcelona, Spain
Institut d'Investigació Biomèdica (IIB Sant Pau), Barcelona, Spain
hybrid, All Open Access; Hybrid Gold
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