Towards more consistent and effective food control: learning from the views of food business operators.

We surveyed the opinions of Finnish food business operators (FBOs) about the uniformity of local official food control and its importance for dairy, fishery and meat plants. A total of 136 FBOs responded to the questionnaire. Most FBOs considered official food control to be important for food safety and were generally satisfied with its quality. However, they often did not perceive official food control as being uniform, and 23% even considered it arbitrary. Small-sized FBOs were particularly critical of the relevance of control actions. The better the FBOs assessed their cooperation with the inspector, the higher they assessed the quality, uniformity and benefits of official food control. The cooperative approach in control practices should be emphasized to support the positive views of FBOs about official food control, thus promoting food safety. Cross-audits among local food control units are recommended to improve the FBOs' experience of uniformity of food control.