Eoin Ryan
Question:419 Mr. Eoin Ryan asked the Minister for Health and Children if the regulations for restaurants under which the environmental health officers work originated in Ireland or Europe (EU). [7817/03]
Written Answers - Food Safety Standards.
Environmental health officers operate under and enforce a range of food safety legislation in restaurants – some of which has its basis in national legislation and some in European Union legislation. The principal national legislation are the Food Hygiene Regulations, 1950-1989, which set out the statutory requirements in relation to food hygiene and the registration of food premises, and the Food Safety Authority of Ireland Act 1998, which provides environmental health officers with much of their enforcement powers.
In recent years, and in particular since the development of the internal market, almost all food law has been based on legislation agreed by member states of the EU. The EU-based legislation under which environmental health officers operate, includes the European Communities (Hygiene of Foodstuffs) Regulations, 2000, which require food business proprietors to ensure that their business is operated in a hygienic way, and the European Communities (Official Control of Foodstuffs) Regulations, 1998, which set out general principles in relation to the official control of foodstuffs.