The director of ANPC, Horia Constantinescu, comes with serious accusations and says that almost three tons of export meat, which would have been frozen close to the expiration date, was stopped from sale before reaching stores and restaurants in Romania.
In addition, dozens of pretentious restaurants have been closed or fined, and the ANPC director says that the Dutch are sending expired, poorly frozen meat to Romania.
“We are not talking about good or bad frozen meat. It could not be frozen, after the South American producer established that it must be marketed in refrigerated form, because according to European regulations, the labeling of a food product is solely the responsibility of the producer, including establishing the term of minimum durability.
Here in the Netherlands, it seems that once this regulation is read diagonally, it allows Dutch economic operators to freeze the products almost beyond the minimum durability period and resell them in the new state, that of minus 18 degrees.
We are trying to understand and hope to see, as soon as possible, what is the point of view of the European Commission, which we will notify next week.
It seems that for some it is a mummy, for others a plague, given that no Romanian producer can afford to do this. Here we have to rewrite, because we know well, the Dutch are the ones who teach us how it is with the European community, we have to rewrite the regulations starting from the discriminatory approach of this country related to the marketing of this type of food”, said the director of the National Authority for Consumer Protection (ANPC), Horia Constantinescu, Saturday, on Antena 3 CNN.
After the accusations made against the Netherlands, that it would freeze meat that is close to the expiration date, the head of the ANPC also says that the state is not to blame for this practice.
“I don’t think that the Dutch state is guilty, but that it should follow the rules also by the economic operators in this country.
It seems that if what he finds at the level of economic operator activity in Romania is draconianly respected, at the level of their country, they do not respect the same requirements.
We did not ask for a point of view, we do not need this point of view, because the reading of the regulation is done in several foreign languages and cannot have an approach in one country and another approach, precisely because we learned from the Dutch that compliance with the regulations also respects the principle of the European community – the same non-discriminatory and not at all Subjective approach.
And here we are, at least at this moment, facing a situation that is at least debatable”, continued the head of Consumer Protection.
ANPC: “I don’t know if what certain Dutch economic operators are doing is also accepted on the market in their country”
“I think some of the European regulations are not translated into Dutch.
I am surprised by this fact, because, not a few times, the Netherlands brought us to the blackboard to explain to us how it is with Europe, what we have to respect and, listening to us, like at school, they left us speechless .
It is interesting that the alleged teachers seem repetitive in the important matters related to the safety of consumers, their life and health.
I don’t know if what certain Dutch economic operators are doing is an accepted way of working for the market in their country.
Their activity is strictly regulated by Regulation 853/2004 regarding the marketing of meat or fish products. However, they flagrantly violate it, and the Netherlands continues to teach us lessons in European morality.
Probably, thousands of tons of products from South America are purchased by these companies, in the fresh version, in the sense of refrigerated, not frozen, they are transported to the Netherlands and frozen there, a few months after they are put on the market, in the country of origin – slowly frozen, taking into account the accumulations of blood, liquid and ice inside the packaging, as well as the obvious freezer burns – and then sold on the Romanian market, although this, I repeat, is strictly prohibited by law European.
Moreover, they issue documents and extend the term of minimum durability or expiration, as it is popularly said, by another year, at least.
I don’t know how to say “shame” in Dutch, but I’d like to learn.
We are not the pelicans of Europe! I’ve been repeating this for the past few years.
I would also send them Romanian meat, under the same conditions, and I would like to see it on the plates of those who give us lessons about the European community.
The product was not sold within the deadline, we freeze it here and send it to them to be baked, they probably say to themselves.
Furthermore, with the packaging looking of questionable quality, these products are served to us as premium even though legally they should be thrown away.
The sad thing is that to run such a business you need accomplices and unfortunately we find that they have found them among our own.
I hope that, at least in this fight, the Romanian authorities join forces to notify the European Commission and show them that we must be respected,” says Horia Constantinescu, president of the National Authority for Consumer Protection.
ANPC: 2.8 tons of meat from the Netherlands, withdrawn from sale
“The controlled suppliers were:
– SC OCEANIS SEAFOOD EUROPA SRL – Popeşti-Leordeni warehouse
– SC ROMPEX DISTRIBUTION SRL – Cosoba village warehouse, Coşoba commune, Giurgiu county.
As a result of the action, around 2.8 tons of meat were permanently stopped from being sold and withdrawn from the circuit of human consumption, and the verification of the documents of the two companies will continue in the following days.
The products withdrawn from the market were sealed, until the control document was completed, to be handed over to a neutralization company.
Among the most important deficiencies noted by the commissioners of CRPCR Bucharest-Ilfov we mention:
– at the warehouse located in Giurgiu county, the employees of the economic operator present in the unit initially refused access to the control bodies’ activity perimeter
– some of the products had the label applied on which the minimum durability date was exceeded, the product being refrigerated
– for the same products, the label applied to the box mentioned the extension of the initial consumption limit date and the change of the thermal state to a frozen product
– the storage door and cold curtain had considerable amounts of excess ice and mechanical shock marks on the outside of the storage door
– another part of the products, imported from South America, carried similar double labeling: that of the manufacturer, which mentioned the refrigerated product, with a certain date of minimum durability, and that of the distributor, for a frozen product, with another date of expiry (the inconsistency refers to the information related to production, packaging and consumption limit date in the sense that the distributor does not follow the recommendations, storage/storage and consumption conditions assigned by the manufacturer)”, the ANPC press release also states.
