According to a recent article in Food Safety News by Joe Whitworth, Switzerland, generally regarded as a paragon of efficiency and precision has apparently failed to implement routine inspections of food producing companies and restaurants.  The Swiss Federal Audit Office conducted a review of enforcement by authorities in cantons (equivalent to states) finding deficiencies in data and failure to conduct inspections at prescribed intervals.  Caterers that should be reviewed at two-year intervals were often neglected for up to eight years.  Intervals for inspection of food manufacturers and processors extended from the statutory 4-year period to 13 years in some cases. 

Due to a shortage of available personnel, cantonal authorities concentrated on high-risk enterprises and relaxed schedules of inspection of locations with a lower potential for foodborne infection. However this might be determined.

While deficiencies in oversight of food safety may be expected in developing nations, the revelations from the audit in Switzerland are distressing. As a nation committed to compliance with laws and a sense of communal responsibility the deficiencies documented in Switzerland should result in a reordering of priorities. Switzerland?  We are all shocked, shocked!