Official food control inspectors’ perceptions of remote food control in Finland

Finnish food inspectors' experiences and perceptions of remote inspections' suitability and reliability and their willingness to use remote inspections in the future were studied by using an electronic questionnaire survey and interviews. In addition, their perceptions of the sufficiency of the official guidance of remote inspections was studied. In total, 111 food control officials representing 44 out of the 62 (71%) municipal food control units responded to the questionnaire. In addition, 12 food inspectors were interviewed from six municipal food control units (9.7%). Most of the respondents considered remote inspections suitable for inspecting own-check entries (94.5%) and documents (92.7%). The reliability of remote inspections was influenced by the inspection issue, preconditions for the inspection and the food business operator's history of compliance. Official guidance on remote inspections was under-utilized and mostly replaced with local practices during the pandemic. All respondents and interviewees wanted to use remote inspections as one inspection method in the future. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the willingness to inspect operations remotely was influenced by the inspector's opinion on whether the outcome of a remote inspection would be as reliable as the outcome of an on-site inspection (p = 0.036). This study indicates that remote inspections are suitable for inspecting documentation but should only be used to complement on-site inspections. In addition, guidance and education are needed for further development of remote inspections. • Remote inspections are most suitable for own-check entries and documents. • Technical preconditions and FBO's previous compliance history influenced reliability. • Remote inspections can be used to complement on-site inspections.