Belgian meat entering Kosovo, the kilo had cost only 93 cents

In a Kosovo Customs document provided by “The newspaper Life in Kosovo” is seen as the price of meat declared in Dogana was several times lower than the market price. Imported meat in Kosovo has been purchased in Belgium for only 93 cents per kilogram.

The first time, this company had introduced 22 thousand pounds of meat into Kosovo. The value of this meat declared in Dogan was only 20 thousand and 600 euros. So a pound of meat is paid only 93 cents. This price is far from the real price of meat in Kosovo, much less the meat that has place of origin to European countries.

The second time, this company has exported 21 thousand and 500kg of meat to Kosovo. This time around, this company had increased the price of sales to 1 euro and 11 cents per kilogram after declaring a total of 24 thousand and 49 euros.

The third time, the company “Vevaba” had exported 19 thousand and 81kg of meat to Kosovo, declaring a value of 33 thousand and 820 euros. So the third time the value of a pound of meat was declared only 1 euro and 77 cents.

The Customs document shows that from 2013 until the end of 2017, this was the only amount this company has exported to Kosovo.

Customs spokesman Adriatic Stavileci has said that about 200 thousand pounds of meat are imported from Belgium within the year.

Import from Belgium is low in proportion to the annual amount of meat import in general. From Belgium, on average, we have about 200,000 pounds per year, which represents about 0.5% of the entire import of meat as more than 40 million pounds [40 million kg] of all species are imported together in Kosovo within a year, according to our statistics mostly within a year, Kosovo imports poultry (pule). While the origin of meat, which is most imported to Kosovo, is mainly from the US, Brazil, Argentina, Holland”, Stavileci has said.

He has shown that a small portion of this amount has been exported to Kosovo by the company “Veveba” in Kosovo.

In the additional questions sent to Dogania, if this company has not been found exporting meat to Kosovo from which this meat product has entered the local market, Stavileci has responded, that this issue must be addressed with the Veterina and Food Agency”.

“ ...After (AUV) issue certificates to each company import”, Stavileci said, respectively.

Even the Food and Veterina Agency has been contacted by “The newspaper Life in Kosovo”, to understand whether this product was sold on the Kosovo market even before the scandal was discovered in September 2016 and which Kosovo company has made import, but that agency has not returned.

Meanwhile, in the media the spokesman for this agency has stated it was the Food and Veterina Agency, which had initiated the investigation for the Belgian company after the loss of 20 thousand pounds of meat exported from this company in Kosovo.

“Gazeta JnK” has looked into the Food and Vetrina Agency website to see the meat disposal reports. There he finds an announcement about the annihilation of 20 thousand pounds of meat that is valid for origin from Belgium.

The certificate's “The product's origin was from the state of Belgium, where Belgian authorities were contacted through their embassy in Kosovo, which immediately sent experts to verify the shipment. Co-operation with them has proved false and that the cargo must be destroyed to prevent any possible deviation if it returns to”, the AUV communiqué says.

Meanwhile, KTV had reported that AUV had eliminated a load of 20,000 pounds of beef, also originally from Belgium.

Thaci had told the newspaper that it is not the same meat factory as the 2016 factory, that is, “Vevabe”.

The location of cargo origin is the same, but the manufacturer, respectively, is not the same. In two cases we're dealing with two different producers and two different importers”, Thaci said of KTV.

Ibrahim Tarsnjak, chief of the Kosovo Sanitary Inspectorate, as well as a member of the Council for the Protection of Consumers, said businesses could operate until authorities detect irregularities.

He praised the work done by AUV, said all factories that have permission to import do not have legal rights to stop operating.

All those factories that have permits we have no legal right not to leave. We've carried out all the checks no matter what other factories we've stopped either from Argentina or Brazil that happened after such scandals. And for those factories that have no import number we don't even give permission for import”, he said, not specifying whether the company in question has an import number.

The Ceatin Kachanic, from the organisation “Consumer”, who is also a member of the Council for the Protection of Consumers, said Belgian authorities have found that not only once but sometimes the Belgian company “Vevaba” has exported meat to Kosovo.

He has invited the competent Kosovo bodies to shut down the company, which has carried out the import in Kosovo, as Belgian authorities have dealt with the company “Vevaba”.

The Kingdom Parliament has engaged the state bodies to investigate the case. And the completion of research is the conclusion of the business for which it has been found that for years it has been exported not only to the Balkans, but to Europe and Belgium over-term meat. Business has been closed and for these years it has been found not only once but sometimes have exported meat to Kosovo”, he said.

The Kachanic expressed outrage in Dogan, who, according to him, is keeping secrets when it comes to the safety and health of the taxpayer consumer.

“If the Belgian Parliament has ascertained that there are several shipments to Kosovo, then Kosovo Customs should present documents, not with talk”, he said.

March 15th, known as International Consumer Day, the Ministry of Trade and Industry had organised various activities for consumer protection and awareness, but in the talks of Minister Bajram Hasani has never mentioned the Belgian meat scandal.

But, asked by the media what steps MTI will take to the import company for Kosovo, Hasani declined that the MTI has competence for food products in terms of quality. While he said they have established a group within the ministry to see what is really happening in this case.

“MTI has competence for non-food products in quality. It's the AUV that's right. We have some information, we've put people in contact to see what the matter is. The quality is AUV's competence, other things we will address in time”, Hasani said.

KA LLXO.com has written about the Belgian Company, which sold rotten meat in Kosovo as well.

In Belgium, a scandal involving the quality of meat consumed by citizens had erupted, following the discovery that the firm “Veviba”, one of the most important suppliers, has worked in unacceptable sanitation conditions, and manipulated the content of the flesh as well as the labels for the use term.

For the first time, the suspicious meat was heard in Kosovo in 2016, when a Kosovo entrepreneur warned Belgian authorities that Weviba company had received a shipment of broken meat.

For almost two years, the company has operated unhindered until days ago when the scandal began to be seriously handled.