The Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine (DAFM) coordinated over 100 investigations of food complaints in 2025.

It did so on behalf of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland (FSAI) and the European Commission.

The data is revealed in DAFM's Annual Report 2025.

A five-year service contract effective from July 1, 2021, between the department and the FSAI, covers official controls on:

Meat hygiene;
Milk and milk products;
Egg and egg products;
Pesticides;
Horticulture;
Border inspection posts;
Residues;
Zoonoses Directive;
Food labelling.

Food complaints and inspections

In 2025, the department coordinated the investigation of 130 food complaints on behalf of the FSAI and the European Commission.

91 food complaints related to meat/meat products, and 39 food complaints related to milk/dairy products.

Comparing to the 51 food complaints made in 2024, 30 related to meat/meat products, and 21 food complaints related to milk/dairy products.

Of the total food complaints in 2025, three were rapid alerts.

The food complaints ranged from conformance with labelling legislation, foreign objects allegedly found in products and quality issues, DAFM said.

The department said it participated in a number of food safety audits during 2025 which included a European Commission Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG Sante) audit to evaluate the official controls related to the safety of milk and dairy product.

Controls

DAFM outlined that during 2025, 4,607 controls were carried out on meat establishments to verify that the relevant legislative requirements are being fulfilled at all stages of production, processing and distribution.

Supplementary technical controls included 6,476 visits to meat food business operators.

In 2025, the corresponding number of risk-based audit and inspection controls carried out in dairy establishments was 1,149.

Supplementary technical official controls included approximately 11,076 samples taken in 2025.

The department also issued 119,109 export certificates in support of the meat trade and 25,854 export certificates in support of the dairy trade to international markets.

Additionally, 155 intracommunity certificates were issued to EU member states, supporting other member state onward certification to third countries.

A total of 1,737 milk and meat notices were served on dairy and meat food business operators, notifying them of infringementsunder the regulations and follow-up action was taken as necessary, DAFM said.

Market access

During 2025, the department said it continued to engage with third country competent authorities, EU member states and Irish industry stakeholders to maintain and expand market access opportunities for Irish dairy exports.

This included progressing certification negotiations, addressing technical trade issues, and supporting exporters in meeting newand evolving import requirements across a range of international markets.

In this regard, the department continued to respond to evolving international certification and sanitary requirements as well as ongoing certification and market access matters to support uninterrupted trade.