The National Service for the Protection of Consumer Rights (ANPC) fined 65 stores of the Kaufland chain across the country more than 1.7 million lei. More than a ton of products was discontinued due to non-compliance. The catering areas of 49 stores were closed after commissioners found expired products, dirty refrigerators and spoiled vegetables and fruits, writes News.ro.

ANPC President Horia Constantinescu said that all 65 stores were inspected in one day.

“You expect those who think they are the best to be the real example. It is sad to learn that this example is negative. Recently, our government has been unfairly accused of not treating large economic operators and smaller ones equally. We once again prove that we have the same measure, which is indicated by hundreds of press releases issued by us over the years. I thank everyone who sent us information and encourage others to do the same,” Constantinescu wrote on his Facebook.

After these inspections, the ANPC teams found the use of non-sanitized refrigeration units, with broken frames, with the presence of food waste and damaged packaging, shelves with rust; the use of unhygienic units for cooking (for example: grills, their assemblies, hot food), with a massive presence of fat and burns, with rust; poor hygienic and sanitary conditions in warehouses: the floor is dirty, with rust in the cold rooms, with mold on the wooden floor, walls with moisture and mold, the use of dirty wooden pallets, dirt from under them; sale of devalued vegetables and fruits; sale of inappropriate food products (for example, fish with organoleptic changes, split products, with damaged packaging, etc.), News.ro notes.

Other violations were non-compliance with the temperature regime of hot food storage in the food block; use of non-professional kitchen utensils not intended for public catering services; lack of information regarding the food label, date of preparation of products and date of restriction of consumption in the grill area; sale of products with an exceeded minimum shelf life; the presence of flies in the unit; sale of food products without identification elements; use of handcarts without proper sanitation; non-observance of the promotion regime – inconsistency in the price of products displayed on the shelf and at the cash register.

ANPC officials imposed fines of 1.7 million lei and finally stopped the sale of more than one ton of non-conforming food products.