More than 60% of complaints received by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland in 2020 related to unfit food and poor hygiene standards.
The FSAI's annual report shows that 2,772 complaints were dealt with, of which 34% were food-related, and 30% related to poor hygiene standards.
The number of complaints received last year was down on 2019, but the FSAI has said this was due to the fact that businesses were closed due to Covid-19.
Food contaminated with "foreign objects" was most frequently reported. The foreign objects included rodent droppings, moths, stones, plastic, insects, glass and hair.
In relation to poor hygiene standards on food premises, sightings of live rodents, employee lack of personal hygiene, and smell of sewage onsite were some of the complaints dealt with by the FSAI.
Consumer complaints ranged from reports of food unfit to eat, to non-display of allergen information.
In total 937 complaints were made in relation to unfit food, 823 were over hygiene standards, 429 concerned suspected food poisoning, 100 complaints were related to incorrect information on food labelling, 78 complaints were over non-display of allergen information, and 34 complaints were related to advertising.
The remaining 371 related to 'other’, such as an unregistered food businesses or Covid-19 restrictions.
