North West Leicestershire (East Midlands Airport)

The audit covered North West Leicestershire District Council's imported food inspection and law enforcement service in respect of imported foods not of animal origin (NPOAO). Products of animal origin (POAO) are subject to veterinary control checks and separate auditing regimes. The Authority did not have enforcement responsibilities for NPOAO feeding stuffs, however, arrangements for their examination were raised during the audit and references have been included in the report where relevant.

The audit assessed the Authority's conformance against the Standard, using audit protocols FSA/IMP/1-FSA/IMP/16. The Standard was adopted by the Food Standards Agency Board on 21 September 2000, (amended March 2002), and forms part of the Agency's Framework Agreement with local authorities.

The on-site element of the audit took place at the Authority's Council Offices in London Road, Coalville, Leicestershire and at East Midlands Airport on 30 September - 2 October 2003.

The audit also afforded the opportunity for discussion with officers involved in imported food law enforcement, with the aim of exploring trends and gaining opinions to inform Agency policy. A set of structured questions was used as the basis for a discussion which sought views and information on areas related to imported food controls such as:

• service planning and the strategic framework of controls;
• the criteria used for determining an appropriate level of checks;
• issues affecting the imported food control programme;
• sampling and surveillance;
• enforcement approaches.

The information gained during the interviews will be incorporated into a summary report on the imported food inspection and control activities audit programme.