With the increase in contaminated chicken meat in Lithuania, not everyone changes suppliers.

At the time, some merchants say that when there is a recurrence of unsafe chicken that comes from the same suppliers, the products are no longer purchased from them, while others say that they do not change suppliers because all meat contains bacteria.

During the five months of this year, the country was not allowed to sell more than 100 tons of meat from unfit contaminated birds, 26 percent. More than last year.

Mantas Staškevičius, deputy director of the service, says he cannot ban the production of Polish companies, and the companies themselves assess the risks and reject unsafe suppliers, not wanting to risk their reputation or receive fines.

“The companies themselves assess and work with the risk that a product with such a sensitive pathogen will not reach consumers. In Lithuania and throughout the European Union, there is a free movement of goods and companies decide for themselves where to buy materials premiums, how much and how often. (…) If it is a Polish supplier, we cannot ban Poles, we can only recommend them, “M. Bres told Staškevičius.

According to him, when an unsafe food product is identified, information about it is sent to the European Commission, and all the countries of the European Union also receive a notification, which means that the control of the company will be strengthened and all shipments.

“The companies really don’t want that, they protect their customers. If it turns out that salmonella has been detected in that plant, the plant itself will not buy that raw material in the future. Another thing is the fines and the awareness that a company like this type in the EU is not safe and nobody will want to buy it, ”said M. Staškevičius.

According to him, companies that find poultry meat unsafe are fined from 144 to 3 thousand. and if the damage is greater, people are poisoned, the fine can increase to 10,000 euros. euros

“If a company has to constantly withdraw products from the market, nobody will work with them, neither supermarkets nor processors, because the risk is high, nobody wants to be poisoned because the consumer no longer chooses their products, so they must properly evaluate and monitor those things”. raw materials, ”said M. Staškevičius.

Also, if the violation is not detected for the first time, the company may be included in the list of unreliable companies, which means that it will not be able to participate in public procurement. Sanitex, Rivona, Juspa, Orteda, Delikana, Baltic foods, Vestey Foods Baltic, Alevista and Romega are currently being considered for inclusion in this list.

Justinas Pašukonis, director of the meat products trading company Alytus, Juspa, says there were two cases and that the infected chicken meat was purchased from two different suppliers in Poland.

According to J. Pašukonis, so far the poultry meat has not been separately inspected at the company, but if the service detects salmonella, the company intends to ask suppliers for proof that the meat is safe.

“We take all the necessary measures, we collect from the market, we see, but the same investigation takes a long time, that the chicken is already sold out.” The Polish Veterinary Service itself inspects them, they no longer transport that poultry meat to Lithuania from one of the suppliers it was found from, “J. Pašukonis told BNS.

“We will ask suppliers to supply salmonella testing protocols on a regular basis … If it comes from the same supplier, unequivocally, we will no longer work with it,” he added.

Algirdas Prochorskis, the head of Kaunas district meat processing company Alevista, says that all poultry meat has this bacterium and “there is no news here.”

“Poultry, like all vegetables, like fruits, like meat, have a bacterium, they are just political games here, the KG Group orders us in veterinary medicine to carry out these tests, and nobody in Lithuania is investigating them ” Although it is exactly the same in Lithuanian, ”A. Prochorskis told BNS.

According to him, even if unsafe poultry meat is identified, it is purchased from the same suppliers.

“We continue buying from the same. As you can imagine, if all poultry are like that, they are not exclusive, every time you check … you do 20 tests, that is, 20 findings. I mean, will you use all the poultry from Maxima, By? I doubt it. (…) How many are dead, how many are poisoned? None, ”he said.

The Office of Food and Veterinary has repeatedly advertised unsafe poultry meat found in Norfa stores. According to network spokesman Darius Ryliškis, the company constantly checks imported products, but the service must take steps to prevent unsafe parties from entering Lithuania.

“Security could be further improved if the Authority exercised its sovereign powers and took measures (possibly internationally) to prevent occasional unsafe shipments of poultry imported from EU companies (with all necessary quality and safety certificates) reach the points of sale in our country. “- said a representative of Norfa in a comment to BNS.