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Our Customer Charter

Our Customers

We have a wide range of customers, including consumers, food business operators and their staff, media, personnel from food related non-governmental organisations, food and nutrition consultants, students, researchers, trainers, personnel from official agencies and Government departments and FSAI staff.

This charter sets out the standards of service you, as a customer, can expect to receive when contacting the FSAI (the reception, the Advice Line, info@fsai.ie, foodincidents@fsai.ie, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X). 

If a customer contacts the FSAI using another means, i.e., direct-dial telephone number or other e-mail address, the principles outlined in this Customer Charter cannot be guaranteed.

Our Promise to You

We will:

  • Deal with you, our customer, promptly, efficiently and to the best of our ability
  • Provide clear and accurate information
  • Be polite, friendly and fair in our dealings with you
  • Set real and achievable targets and monitor performance against the achievement of those targets
  • Consult with our customers on a regular basis in order to evaluate our services
  • Treat our customers equally and with respect
  • Protect any personal information you give us
  • Inform you of your rights and entitlements
  • Provide redress when you have a complaint

The Service You Can Expect From Us

Telephone

Advice-line: 0818 33 66 77
Reception: 01 8171300

We will respect your privacy and treat your enquiry or complaint in confidence.

E-mail

info@fsai.ie

foodincidents@fsai.ie

We will respond to your enquiry to info@fsai.ie within five working days and your notification to foodincidents@fsai.ie within two working days, where possible

  • Where it is not possible to respond fully within the time frame specified above, e.g., where an enquiry requires considerable research or expertise*, you will be advised that this is the case and when you should expect a full response to your enquiry
  • All our e-mail correspondence will include a contact name, telephone number and e-mail address
  • We will strive to ensure our e-mail correspondence is clear and technical terms are explained
  • Your enquiry or complaint will be dealt with in confidence

Complaints about a food premises or product will be prioritised and referred to the appropriate enforcement agency.

*Queries on certain topics, e.g., food labelling queries, will take longer to respond to due to the large volume of requests. Please expect to wait approximately 15 working days for a response to these types of enquiries.

Letter (addressed ‘Advice Line’)

  • We will acknowledge receipt of your letter within ten working days.
  • If possible, we will respond, in writing, to your enquiry within 15 working days. Where it is not possible to issue a full reply within 15 working days, you will be advised that this is the case and when you should expect a full response to your enquiry
  • All our correspondence will include a contact name, address and telephone number
  • Our written correspondence will be clear and technical terms will be explained
  • We will help you as much as we can and give you as much clear and accurate information as we can
  • Your enquiry or complaint will be dealt with in confidence

Website (www.fsai.ie)

  • Our website will be maintained up-to-date
  • We will ensure the information on our website is clear and accurate, and where possible, technical terms will be explained
  • We will strive to make our website easy to access and navigate
  • Our website will be user-friendly and accessible, catering for a wide range of browsers
  • A mobile version of our website is available
  • The website will be maintained in compliance with the Website Accessibility Initiative (WAI), Level 2
  • Users can make an enquiry or complaint via the website
  • Enquiries or complaints made via the website will be responded to as soon as possible
  • The website offers the facility to subscribe to sections which may be of interest to you

Social Media

  • We will update our social media platforms (Facebook and Twitter) with relevant information as it becomes available
  • We will respond to questions/queries posed on social media as soon as we can, but within one working day
  • We ask that you do not post names of food businesses or products on the FSAI’s pages. If they are posted, they will be removed
  • We will review all comments and will remove any that are inappropriate or offensive

Accessibility

We will ensure the highest standards of accessibility for everyone:

  • If you have a disability and inform us of your intention to visit the FSAI, we will provide all the necessary assistance and information you will require to comfortably and safely access the building
  • We will ensure that information produced by the FSAI, where possible, is available in a suitable format for people with disabilities
  • We will maintain our website in compliance with the Website Accessibility Initiative (WAI), Level 2

Help Us to Help You

In order to help us to provide the best service we can, please:

  • Quote any relevant reference numbers when you telephone us, or on any written correspondence
  • Ensure to include your name, address and a daytime telephone number or e-mail address on your correspondence
  • Be as clear as possible about your enquiry or complaint and give us as much detail as possible
  • Provide full and accurate information
  • Make comments, complaints or suggestions about the services you receive
  • Respond to any customer survey or questionnaire that we may ask you to take part in
  • Treat our staff politely and with respect

We Value Your Opinion

Let us know when things go wrong, when you get a good service, or if you have suggestions to improve our service. To do this:

How to Complain

If you are not satisfied with the services provided by the FSAI or you believe the services you have received fall short of what is outlined in this Charter, you have a right to complain. All formal complaints will be acknowledged within ten working days and responded to in writing as soon as possible. All complaints will be dealt with fairly and independently. We will do our best to put things right if we have made a mistake.

Complaints should be addressed to:

Customer Feedback Coordinator
Food Safety Authority of Ireland
The Exchange, George’s Dock, IFSC, D01 P2V6, Dublin 1
Telephone: 01 8171300
E-mail: customerfeedback@fsai.ie 

If customers are not satisfied with the way in which a complaint has been handled, they have a right to appeal. Appeals can be sent to: 

Customer Appeals
Food Safety Authority of Ireland, The Exchange, George’s Dock, IFSC, Dublin 1, D01 P2V6
Telephone: 01 817 1300
E-mail: customerappeals@fsai.ie.

The FSAI will ensure its staff and customers are fully aware of the appeals process to follow.

If, however, the outcome of the appeals procedure is not satisfactory, a customer has the right of further appeal to the Office of the Ombudsman.

Office of the Ombudsman
6 Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin 2, D02 W773
Telephone: 01 6395600/1890 223030
Email: complaints@ombudsman.ie

Freedom of Information

The FSAI complies fully with the terms of the Freedom of Information Act, 2014. We will make every effort to provide you with as much information as possible informally, without resort to the terms of the Act. However, should you wish to make a formal request under the Act, you should e-mail the Freedom of Information Officer, foi@fsai.ie.

Feedback

The FSAI is committed to evaluating and improving its services. We will evaluate our services on a regular basis and may contact you for your feedback. To help us improve our services, we would appreciate if you would take the time to respond truthfully and fully to any customer survey or questionnaire that we may ask you to take part in, either written, online or by telephone.

Protected Disclosures

Our Protected Disclosure Policy provides guidance for making a Protected Disclosure (also known as whistleblowing) to the FSAI on any matter relating to the functions of the Authority regarding the application of food safety legislation.

How to Contact Us

  • Postal address:
    Food Safety Authority of Ireland
    The Exchange, George’s Dock, IFSC, Dublin 1, D01 P2V6

How to make a complaint about the FSAI or an inspector.

Unreasonable Contact Policy

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