Author: Klevis Paloka
With the request that inspectors should be effective at every border point to food products that are imported into Albania. Shkëlqim Hajdari, Inspector General of the Central Inspectorate, bluntly states that food safety continues to be problematic. Immediately going to the solution, Mr. Hajdari adds for ACQJ that the whole problem on food safety starts from the non-use of laboratories for any type of product that is produced in the country or that is imported. "because if we have laboratories, the distribution of any product that is out of standard will be prevented", suggests the Inspector General. Despite the efforts over the years to block tons of products at border points such as meat products, almost 41 tons of bananas, or the blocking of food with counterfeit labels, food safety remains one of the biggest problems faced by Albanian consumers. The fate of the files referred for investigation by various prosecutors remains unanswered, except for those offenders who have been caught red-handed producing false labels, especially for alcoholic beverages. But in the meantime, the market continues to be filled with products without standard labels, products that are expired, or even products that are marketed without any information that should explain what is contained in the item being sold to the consumer.
So many checks, but even more complaints
"I bought in a well-known supermarket fruit yogurt that should expire on December 17, 2021, it was all moldy"- says Ela, a student who, unlike many others who report problems with food on virtual networks, or near consumer protection structures, the young woman prefers to declare her concern only as a table conversation.
Only for the first seven months of 2021, 326 citizens complained to the relevant institutions and requested follow-up of the food problem. Concerns are related to counterfeit products, counterfeit labels and expired items.
"There are also complaints about the ingredients of meat and dairy by-products that are not in the declared and advertised standards, thus reducing the quality of the product. Another complaint is about storage and trading conditions that are in violation of consumer, food and public health law. But there are also complaints about the quality of ice cream, fast food, sausages, meatballs, creams, sausages, eggs and imported chicken meat. There are so many complaints about the quality of the bread, the so-called black bread, which in many cases has synthetic coloring. Also, in the citizens' complaints, the one about mixing butter with margarine and olive oil with edible oil is added.”, declares the Director of Complaints at the Albanian Consumer Protection, Hasan Stafa.
Regarding the fake labels, Shkëlqim Hajdari tells the Albanian Center for Quality Journalism that more institutional accountability is needed.
"There should be strong and professional laboratory criteria when licensing a product. Anyone who creates a label, some preliminary analysis and verifications are done, but the giving of the label should be strengthened."
Eggs, milk and meat with problems
Hasan Stafa, speaks with statistics on the checks carried out and the subsequent confiscations that have been established together with the National Food Authority.
"From June 12 to July 27, AKU and the Consumer Complaints Center have together carried out 167 inspections in 12 regions of the country. 32 cases of denatured food products were found in Shkodër, Durrës, Elbasan and Tirana. 17 kilos of meat and its by-products were confiscated. 800 liters of milk and 3164 eggs that were being prepared for ice cream were confiscated. Over 600 bottles of water and soft drinks exposed in open spaces were seized. 21 subjects were temporarily closed", the head of the complaints and consumer protection office, accounts for ACQJ.
Even the National Food Authority talks about checks starting from a flow of inspections of 1170 checks from January to May, which have then been translated into fines, seizures and 424 warnings for interruption of activity. The latter refer to the inspection law for cases where violations are found.
"We have decided 10 fines worth ALL 1.150.000, for violations such as products beyond the expiration date; deficiencies in the labeling of some food products; lack of traceability of some food products. For the deficiencies found by the inspection bodies during this period, in 6 cases, the amounts of 240.82 kg of food products and 420 grains of eggs were also blocked., is mentioned in the official response of the AKU.
Prices high, quality questionable
Hasan Stafa looks at the food issue from several perspectives. Not only the quality, fakes, but also the prices are climbing out of control.
"Prices have risen speculatively for basic products. The family basket has increased from 24 to 62%. The price of flour, oil, rice, pasta, eggs, cheese, milk and yogurt has increased. says the Director of Complaints.
While the food safety expert, Alban Zusi, says that the biggest problem is informal and agricultural production as well as products that do not have a name or label.
"Duke being informal from the fiscal point of view is also informal from the point of view of food security, it is also uncontrollable from the point of view of food, especially this problem is highlighted in the chain of livestock products and of Albanian origin. Products that are sold without a name, without a brand, without a brand, and for these types of products the consumer is not informed, are always dangerous." insists the food expert
According to Zusi, food safety cannot be guaranteed by end-point controls alone.
“Ano, what should be done better is to control the entire production chain, not just in the supermarket, but from the planting of the plants in the field, from the birth of the animals in the stable, to then come to the markets. That's it çwhat needs to be fixed in the system, that is, the creation of a control chain from the farm to the consumer's table".
KLSH also spoke, but...
Therefore, an audit of the High State Control in the Tirana Regional Directorate of AKU, for the period January 1, 2018-December 30, 2020, has revealed several violations that this institution has committed.
From the report of the HSC, it is emphasized that some violations were found in terms of the food law for the control of the quality of food products.
From the findings of KLSH it was concluded that "From the review of the above practice, KLSH finds that: the sample of the cheese product remained unanalyzed and the evidence raised for this product was not examined until the end, since even after the rejection of the laboratory analysis of the sample, no new sample was taken .”
But from KLSH controls, it is revealed that the subject was supplied with a significant amount of "Le guedete" cheese with an amount of about 20 thousand kg, in two supplies on 03.02.2018, selling almost the entire amount to about 200 subjects others.
The audit of KLSH highlights that the safety certificates of the "Le guedete" cheese product, related to the import practice, are in the Polish language and not in the Albanian language, an obligation defined in Article 18 of the Food Law . This fact should not be overlooked by the inspectors who carried out the inspection near this subject, who should have taken administrative measures (at least in the amount of 1,000,000 ALL, but they did not), but also by the inspectors of the border point, from where entered the food product.
According to the HSC report, the traceability system has not been fully checked, and therefore it has been concluded that in this case the safety and quality of the food product is not guaranteed due to the lack of reaction of the holders and inspectors.
