Since September of the previous year, the Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority has been carrying out inspections focused on foodstuffs originating from China because of possible occurence of melamine. All possibly dangerous foodstuffs are then examined in the laboratory whether they contain this chemical substance. Laboratory analyses now confirmed content of melamine exceeding the limits, namely in product under designation Oriental mix – coated peanuts with corn snacks (packaging à 225g, best before 14 July 2009, batch number 1/9034/8). This foodstuff was supplied to chain Ahold by Dutch company Menken Orlando B.V., however, the it was produced in China.

The Inspection Authority ordered withdrawal of all imported batches of the product from precautionary reasons. Ahold cooperates with due responsibility and started fulfilling these measures immediately, therefore the batch in question is not supposed to occur on the market anymore. In total, 4 528 pieces of this batch were withdrawn. However, the limit set for melamine was exceeded only slightly, thus the foodstuff does not pose a direct health risk.

The Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority has carried out more than 3 200 inspections on melamine so far. The Inspection Authority also examines all consignments containing dangerous foodstuffs from China directly on the borders when entering the European market. In total, more than 40 samples of foodstuffs were taken, of which Oriental mix was the first officially sampled foodstuff on the Czech territory at which exceeding limit was detected.