Covid-19 pandemic induced measures in food industry improves food safety as perceived by food business operators in Finland

Figures & data

Figure 1. Food business operators’ (FBOs) assessment of the magnitude of changes conducted in their food establishment’s own-check sectors because of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Table 1. Characteristics of responded food business operators (N = 60).

Category	% (n)
Number of staff
<10	30.0 (18)
10–49	15.0 (9)
50–249	38.3 (23)
≥250	16.7 (10)
Total production volume kg
<100 000	26.6 (16)
100 000–1 million	13.3 (8)
1–10 million	30.0 (18)
>10 million	30.0 (18)
Approved or registered establishment
Approved	88.3 (53)
Registered	11.7 (7)
Main type of production^a
Dairy	31.7 (19)
Meat	25.0 (15)
Vegetable	13.3 (8)
Fish	13.3 (8)
Composite food^b	11.7 (7)
Storage	6.7 (4)
Other (drink, spices, food additives, egg)	8.3 (5)
Handling of unpacked foodstuff	80.0 (48)

^aSome FBOs have more than one type of production.

^bComposite food is defined as a mixture of processed animal products and processed plant products.

Figure 2. The impact of changed procedures on food safety evaluated by food business operators (FBO) that had conducted pandemic induced changes in their food establishment..

Figure 3. The food business operators’ (FBOs) opinions on how probable it is that the changed measures will remain permanent in the food establishment..

Figure 4. The respondents’ opinions on to what extent following factors have increased the risk for food fraud. Only respondents who estimated that the risk for food fraud has increased following the pandemic were asked to answer.

Table 2. Food business operators’ (FBO) opinions on the reliability of remote inspection methods (RIM) compared with inspections on-site, and whether on-site inspections in food premises could be replaced with RIMs conducted by local food control.

Remote inspection method	Reliability of remote inspection methods %				Replaceability of on-site inspections with remote inspections %
	n	Less reliable	Equally reliable	More reliable	n	Not replaceable	Partially replaceable	Totally replaceable
Document-based inspection at the inspector’s office	58	25.9	65.5	8.6	58	12.1	34.5	53.4
Virtual document-based inspection using videoconferencing (e.g. Teams or Skype)	56	48.2	48.2	3.6	56	12.5	69.6	17.9
Video inspection of production area using smart phones	53	69.8	26.4	3.8	53	30.2	47.2	22.6