Commissioners of the National Authority for the Protection of Consumer Rights (ANPC) issued fines amounting to 6.3 million lei after inspecting 350 Auchan and Penny stores. According to the results of inspections, five stores were closed. Among the detected violations are expired products, dirt and the presence of cockroaches.

On Tuesday, ANPC officials said they had conducted several control actions in 350 Auchan and Penny stores across the country.

“We continue measures aimed at large retailers. Just as a small grocer must respect consumers and the law, so must these giant grocers, regardless of who owns them and what their turnover is,” ANPC President Horia Constantinescu said, according to News.ro.

• Among the most important violations found during the inspection were: the use of damaged refrigerated display cases and refrigerated chambers, with large areas of rust, peeling paint, unhygienic ventilation with dust deposits, impurities in the coarse layer, the presence of liquid leakage, food waste; sale of frozen food products with massive deposits of ice on the product or with freezer fires; sale of some fruits and vegetables with organoleptic changes, mechanical shocks, dehydration; sale of some food products after the consumption limit recommended by the manufacturer; sale of food products that do not fit into the net quantity declared on the package.

• Also, ANPK commissioners discovered the use of warehouses with untreated surfaces, with contamination and packaging residues; presence of live insects (cockroaches) in warehouses; absence of a list of ingredients, their nutritional value and allergens in confectionery products; sale of products with worn packaging; the sale of some product packages (for example: 8 pieces for the price of 6), and as a result of the calculations it was found that the information is misleading; the presence of a sidewalk both in the shopping area and in the warehouse that does not meet sanitary standards, with dirt, leftover food products/packaging, massive dust deposits; use of bakery ovens with poor sanitary conditions, with massive deposits of burnt food residues; failure to display the origin of meat at the point of sale.

• Other deviations found by ANPC commissioners were: the sale of products obtained from its own grocery store, which did not comply with European regulations regarding the display of the list of ingredients, the percentage of fat and the collagen-protein ratio; lack of permission to freeze meat in a slow system, in accordance with the veterinary permission; non-compliance with the temperature regime of food storage, according to the manufacturer’s instructions; the difference between the price on the shelf and the price at the cash register; sale of citrus fruits without information about the ban on the consumption of processed peel; lack of product price display; marketing of some products without translation of the label into Romanian.

ANPC commissioners imposed 6.3 million lei in fines and issued 108 warnings after the violations were discovered.

At the same time, non-conforming food products worth 230,000 lei were finally stopped from sale.

The commissioners also decided to temporarily suspend service for 45 stores pending remediation, they proposed temporary closures for up to six months for four units and between six months and 12 months for one unit.