A fruit and vegetable warehouse was closed. He was selling apples from Poland as Voinesti apples

Angelica Lefter – April 3, 2024 2:11 p.m

Fines of over 200,000 lei and the banning of the activity of a fruit-vegetable warehouse and a bread and pastry factory, represent the balance of checks in Dâmbovița county. Inspectors of the Sanitary-Veterinary and Food Safety Directorate (DSVSA) Dâmbovița applied a total of over 25 sanctions in March.

DSVSA Dâmbovița discovered a series of irregularities at economic units checked throughout March. Thus, imported products were found to be presented as being of Romanian origin and without provenance documents.

Read also: Apples from Poland sold in the Voinești supermarket, the largest orchard in Romania!

“Voinești” apples from Poland

A fruit-vegetable warehouse was closed, the activity of a bakery was suspended and 25 sanctions were applied following the controls of DSVSA Dâmboviţa in the county in March, according to a press release issued on Tuesday – April 3, Agerpres.

“As a result of the identified deficiencies and irregularities, and at the same time of the violation of the provisions of the legislation in the field of food safety, measures and recommendations were ordered to remedy them and a number of 25 contraventional sanctions were applied in the total amount of 206,400 lei. At the same time, an order banning the activity was issued for a vegetable and fruit warehouse, a suspension order for a unit manufacturing bread, fresh pastries, pies, bakery specialties, checks, etc. and a quantity of 106 liters of sunflower oil was destroyed, as a result of the fact that the economic operator could not present documents of provenance in order to demonstrate traceability”, states DSVSA Dâmboviţa.

At the same time, following the controls, it was found that the imported products were presented for sale as Romanian, produced even in localities in Dâmboviţa, famous for vegetable cultivation.

Read also: Romanian potatoes will “beat” imports this year. Planting, two weeks earlier

DSVSA inspectors discovered missing labels or incomplete labeling on some products

Thus, a series of products such as apples were presented as being from Voinesti, but in reality they were grown in Poland.

“The lack of labels on the packaging or their incomplete labeling, as well as the lack of origin and quality on the documents issued by distributors/suppliers can lead to the situation where some products from intra-community trade or import are presented as products in Romania (examples: apples originating in Poland as being from Voineşti, cabbage originating in Macedonia as being from Slobozia Moăra, potatoes originating in Spain as being from Lungulețu, etc.). Thus, we draw the attention of economic operators to strictly comply with the provisions of ANSVSA Order no. 120/2022, as well as the provisions of the European legislation regarding traceability and labeling”, according to DSVSA Dâmboviţa.