ABSTRACT
Places of great concentration of food, particularly production companies, must be the subject of regular visits, the frequency of which depends once again on the prior analysis of risks. The inspection services must comprise or be able to avail themselves of sufficient personnel skilled in various disciplines: food science and technology, chemistry, microbiology, medicine, and law. Each country must define the policy it applies regarding food safety in order to identify, wherever they may be, the resources in structures, persons, and financial means that can be used to implement this policy. Controls must be able to be made at all the stages of the life of food, from production or harvesting right through to distribution to the end consumer. Controls are made by using one or several investigation techniques which can be divided into three groups: inspections made directly on food and its environment, sampling for analysis, and document control.
