Food hygiene in Ireland: implementing Reg. (EC) 852/2004

This page is the hub for Ireland's implementation of Reg. (EC) 852/2004. It gives the overall picture and links to the detail pages and the other jurisdictions covered in the countries pillar.

The division of powers

Ireland follows a distinctive model that sits between centralisation and decentralisation: responsibility for food safety rests with a single national coordinating authority, the FSAI (Food Safety Authority of Ireland), but official controls are physically carried out on its behalf by official agencies under service contracts. The official agency that handles most retail and catering food businesses is the HSE (Health Service Executive), through its Environmental Health Service and its Environmental Health Officers; establishments handling products of animal origin instead fall to DAFM (Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine). In our view this is what most sharply sets the Irish case apart: whereas in the Netherlands the business deals with a single national authority that concentrates every function, and in Spain the counterpart depends on the Autonomous Community, in Ireland the FSAI coordinates while execution is entrusted to distinct official agencies. A comparable contrast can be drawn with the regional set-up of Italy.

Registration and approval

Reg. 852/2004 requires every food business operator to notify each establishment to the competent authority for registration Article 6(2) of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004. In Ireland this notification is made to the relevant official agency: for bars, restaurants and retail shops the counterpart is usually the HSE Environmental Health Service. Establishments handling products of animal origin (slaughterhouses, cutting plants, dairies, fishery-product establishments) may instead be subject to approval under Reg. (EC) 853/2004 Article 4 of Regulation (EC) No 853/2004: an express decision that verifies the requirements before start-up, falling to DAFM. The difference between the two is explained in the concept registration vs approval.

Self-checking, training and FSAI guidance

Every food business must put in place self-checking procedures based on HACCP principles Article 5(1) of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 and ensure the training of staff who handle food Annex II, Chapter XII, point 1 of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004. The Irish specificity is the FSAI's role as a guidance authority: the FSAI publishes national guidance on food-safety training, structured by skills-based levels, as good practice. The regulation itself encourages the development of national guides to good practice Article 8(1) of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 and allows them to be used to facilitate the application of HACCP principles with the flexibility it permits Article 5(5) of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004. These remain support tools: they do not replace the business's responsibility. The operational picture for training is covered in HACCP training in Ireland.

Official controls and competent authorities

Official controls are organised under Reg. (EU) 2017/625 Article 4 of Regulation (EU) 2017/625, which repealed the earlier Reg. (EC) 854/2004 and 882/2004. In Ireland enforcement is carried out by the official agencies acting on the FSAI's behalf under service contracts: the HSE for retail and catering, DAFM for products of animal origin. National enforcement tools include improvement notices, closure orders and prosecution under the FSAI Act 1998 and the national official-controls regulations. For a comparison between the coordinated Irish model, the centralised Dutch model and the decentralised Spanish model, see the countries pages and the country-comparison tool.