Food Safety: ESA recommends that Norway strengthen controls of fruit and vegetable producers

A new report by the EFTA Surveillance Authority (ESA) recommends that Norway strengthens its system for official controls of primary producers of cut fruits, leafy greens and sprouts. The report follows an audit to Norway from 16 to 25 June 2025.

The audit's objective was to verify compliance with European Economic Area (EEA) food safety legislation governing the production of certain food of non-animal origin and to evaluate the effectiveness of the official control system in place.

The audit revealed that, in general, the official control system for leafy greens, sprouts and soft berries, is well established in Norway. The audit nevertheless found weaknesses in the official control system, including inaccuracies in the list of registered establishments and the lack of traceability of seeds for sprouting.

The report includes three recommendations the Norwegian authorities must address to rectify the identified shortcomings and enhance the control system in place:

• Ensure that all stages of food production, including primary production, is subjected to official control.
• Improve the register of establishments for clearer oversight of operators and more effective planning of official controls.
• Ensure that producers of sprouts have full traceability of incoming raw material and products.

In response to ESA's draft report, Norway has provided a plan of corrective actions to address the recommendations. This plan is included in the final report.

Food safety in the EEA

EEA law sets high standards for food and feed safety, and for animal health and welfare.

ESA is responsible for monitoring how Iceland and Norway implement EEA rules on food safety, feed safety and animal health and welfare.

Consequently, ESA performs regular audits in both countries, while Liechtenstein is subject to a different surveillance system for food safety.

ESA's report can be found here.

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