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Food quality and Czech consumer - Press Conference

02/29/2012
 
Food quality and Czech consumer
The press conference of the Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority
International Food Fair Salima 2012, BVV, exhibition hall P, room P4
In the course of year 2011, the Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority (CAFIA) noticed signals that the situation in the area of food quality in the Czech Republic got worse and cases of misleading were growing. The last year brought a lot of findings from widened inspections of food quality. 430,000 analyses which were carried out on 8,000 product batches showed that while food safety does not represent a big problem, the whole of 15% samples failed to comply with quality requirements. Even though the samples were from risky commodities, the number is alarming. These results were presented by CAFIA in January this year and informed that the inspections are continuing and the public will be informed about their results.
From the beginning of this year, CAFIA encounters frequent misleading of consumers as regards food quality. This misleading has a lot of forms. Seriousness of the cases is different – from advertising overstatement, which exceeds acceptable limit, to hazarding with consumer´s life. The big amount of these offences is misleading regarding the best-before-date at over-the-counter goods, which are cut or split at the store. Mainly the goods repackaging, re-labelling, extending the best-before-dates of single packages which is separated from the original whole (e.g. sliced cheeses) and also selling meat products after the expiration of 24 hours from their slicing are concerned.
Another operator´s trick is to drawn the fact that the great part of Czech consumers prefers domestic products. The foreign products are labelled by words which make a fake idea that the foodstuffs are made in the Czech Republic. CAFIA does not tolerate these cases. The detected products are immediately withdrawn from circulation and the procedure on imposition of a fine with the responsible persons is initiated. Only in last year, CAFIA imposed fines amounting almost to 30 million Czech crowns. The Inspection Authority is also aware of positive impact of publicizing these cases for cultivation of the market. CAFIA is preparing an application for its websites though which the consumers could find out some actual and specific CAFIA food quality findings.  

CAFIA is working on drafts of legislative amendments which could bring better safety for consumers against poor food quality, especially through the amendment to the Act on Foodstuffs and the Act on CAFIA.


Author: Mgr. Michal Spáčil , phone : +420 542 426 633  

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