This priority action served to check the implementation of the general and specific hygiene requirements and to verify the self-checks in authorised high-risk businesses (= businesses that handle and process food of animal origin).

303 food samples from all over Austria were analysed and a total of eleven food samples were rejected:

• for milk, eight of the 163 food samples were objected to (three samples due to Escherichia coli, one sample due to Escherichia coli and coagulase-positive staphylococci, one sample due to Listeria monocytogenes, one sample due to coliform bacteria and two samples due to their condition at the end of the shelf life)
• for meat, three of the 105 food samples were rejected (due to Listeria monocytogenes)
• for fish, none of the 35 food samples were rejected