Case study no. 1 The “mici” alert

Questions The National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority has launched a food alert following a control in a food store in Bucharest where a quantity of 200 kilograms of minced meat for preparing “Mici” was found under suspicion of fraud for replacing beef with horse meat.

Following extended controls it was found that the “mici” manufacturer, the Nicolin Company in Ploieşti, has distributed through a well-known supermarket chain, in 36 counties, casseroles of 800 g of “mici” each.

The chief executive of the Prahova Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Department (DSVSA),Mihai Terecoasă, has declared at that moment that “the laboratory analyses performed by DSVSA Bucharest on the ‘mici’ produced by a company in Ploieşti and sold in a supermarket in Bucharest have confirmed the suspicions regarding the presence of horse meat instead of beef ”. Terecoasă mentioned at that time that “DSVSA Prahova has fined the manufacturer from Ploieşti lei for substituting the meat.”.

The company in Ploieşti that was fined for producing “mici” that contained horse meat without being mentioned on the label, is administered by the husband of the former chief of the department for food safety for food of animal origin within DSVSA Prahova, and that the inspectors who perform controls at companies like that administered by her husband are her employees. The chief executive of this institution has declared that, following the food alert mentioned, the employee in question was transferred to an executive job within the department responsible for performing controls on non-food products.

Questions What quantity of the product from the infringed batch was withdrawn from the market? What legislative measures have the authorities taken following this incident? ?