Legislation on official controls requires competent authorities to carry out a risk-based control in a uniform way. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether data from official controls can be used to examine to what extent the assessment of compliance is performed in a uniform way. Data from official controls carried out by a competent authority were examined for differences in the assessment of non-compliance amongst the control staff. The dissemination of non-compliance within a selection of regulatory requirements was also examined. The result shows that the proportion non-compliances increase when more than one inspector is present. Inspectors carrying out fewer controls show significant differences in their assessment of compliance with certain requirements. Under certain conditions dispersion measures based on the proportion of non-compliances can be used as indicators or comparative figures for consistency.

Describe actual problems of metrology and system of food safety, official control and work of metrology laboratories.