Food authority plans to name names

The Food Safety Authority plans to publish the names of food industry companies that fail to meet safety standards.

The Food Safety Authority plans to publish the names of food industry companies that fail to meet safety standards.

Under current legislation FSA inspectors can serve closure orders, improvement orders and prohibition orders on companies within the food industry. This covers businesses such as abattoirs, pubs, restaurants and hotels.

The FSA now intends to publish such information on its website. The information will include the name of the company, the health board area the business is in, and the date when the order was served. It will also state the reason the order was given.

According to the authority 18 closure orders were issued in the first six months of 2001 compared with 22 closure orders in the whole of 2000.