Supplements making unpermitted claims among 23 illegal food offers spotted by FSAI
The Food Safety Authority of Ireland has identified 23 illegal food offers on websites.
It was part of an EU-wide sweep during last September which found there were 779 offers for sale of food in total, which failed to comply with legislation.
It focused on supplements with medicinal claims and unauthorised new foods.
Twenty-five Member States, along with Switzerland and Norway, participated in the coordinated control programme, checking 1,077 websites which identified 779 offers for sale of food which did not comply with EU legislation.
Ireland identified 17 offers for unauthorised novel foods and 6 offers of food supplements making unpermitted claims.
All non-compliances resulted in follow up action at national level and/or were reported to other Member States or third countries via the European Commission.
Dr Pamela Byrne, Chief Executive, FSAI commented on the report findings: “The high number of non-compliant offers is a clear sign that e-commerce control across Europe needs to be strengthened. Whether purchasing from a physical store or online, consumers have the right to buy safe food which does not mislead.
“Furthermore, businesses selling food online must abide by the same rules as their bricks and mortar counterparts.
“To strengthen controls in Ireland, the FSAI has established a cross-agency working group focusing on online sales of food and last year published information for food businesses selling or advertising food online.
“I strongly encourage all food businesses to take the time to read this information and revise their online offers, as necessary. Inspectors are putting more focus on reviewing the online activity of food businesses.
“We continue to cooperate with our colleagues in other Member States regarding online sales of non-compliant food via the European Commission and also fully participate in working groups at EU level.”
