THERE has been a moderate drop in poor-quality food over the past three years of food inspections, Agriculture and Rural Development Minister Ľubomír Jahnátek told a press conference on January 22.
“It’s not as much as we wanted, though, as it (the drop) has been by some 2 percent,” said Jahnátek. He added that the average rate of failure to adhere to requirements vis-a-vis quality, be it in foodstuffs themselves or in services related to them, was measured at over 12 percent, which he still sees as a high number.
“That said, many operators in the food chain have made considerable strides, while others have worsened,” said Jahnátek. The highest rate progress has been observed in distributors and food haulage contractors, as the average percentage ratio of shortcomings in this category was seen slashed from 9.64 percent in 2012 to 1.84 percent in 2014.
Nonetheless, major shortcomings persist in small and medium-sized stores, as well as in hypermarkets - with the latter category posting a fall in the occurrence of flaws from 17.65 percent to 16.96 percent.
The State Veterinary and Food Administration (SVPS) launched 2,143 administrative procedures that translated into penalties of €1.365 million. Two years later, SVPS took action in 3,103 cases and slapped fined worth €10.512 million.
Most recently, it was reported earlier this week that SVPS had levied a fine of €1 million on Tesco in town of Partizánske for repeatedly selling foods after their shelf life and for selling fruits and vegetables unsuitable for consumption. Tesco is set to turn to the court after seeing its appeal rejected by SVPS.
In all, SVPS conducted 51,983 food inspections in 2012 and found shortcomings in 14.34 percent of them. A total of 56,705 such inspections in 2014 found flaws in 12.6 percent of them.
Source: TASR
Compiled by Roman Cuprik from press reports
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