15 minutes agoBroken meat coming from Belgium in Kosovo, topic discussion in Belgian parliament
Periskopi(8 years ago)
(8 years ago)Following the scandal at the meat company “Vevaba”, Belgian Agriculture Minister Denis Ducarme (MR) has reproved the federal food agency (FASFC) for distributing harmful meat. But questions now arise about the role of the trial that had left “Veviba” to work a year and a half after the scandal. On September 19, 2016, a truck with [...]
On September 19, 2016, a truck with meat from “Vevaba” in Bastogne arrived in Kosovo, in which most of the labels were torn from packing, but the remains showed that the meat was already dating back to 2004.
“U repacked into boxes with the number of brand Veviba”, says a court report that Het Laatste Nieuws discovered.
In the same month, federal food agency FAVV received a complaint from Kosovo's food inspection, after which a Belgian inspector had been sent to the country.
A week later, an official report went to the public prosecutor's office in Luxembourg, which Agriculture Minister Denis Ducarme (MR) announced yesterday during an emergency session in the Belgian parliament.
Chronology raises questions about the court's approach. There they knew that “Vevaba” sold twelve-year-old meat, yet it took a year and a half, until February 28, 2018, before a raid on Weviba took place. “Why did the investigative judge wait a year and a half?
Justice Minister Cohen Geens (CD & V), who has not commented yesterday on this issue, will be questioned in parliament by Sp.a MP Annick Lambrecht tomorrow.
“After the opposition Groen party, the ministers and senior civil servants are hiding behind the secret of the court investigation. Everyone puts the umbrella to themselves”, Parliamentary MP Anne Dedry said.
The Greens are pleased to have Ducarme explain more in parliament on Friday or Monday, broadcasting Indescline.
From Thursday, Ducarme will request all reports of checks the FASFC conducted in “Vevaba” since 2001.
In 2017, inspectors visited the slaughterhouse four times but did not discover any irregularities. They did only routine checks, until the food agency was aware of the facts in Kosovo. The FASFC says it's not competent for label fraud and that inspectors found nothing disturbing.
During the search in February, 138 of the 200 patrols controlled were not within standards. Some packages were found with meat content that was not suitable for human consumption, while others had been frozen since 2001. Sometimes a label was missing, so the origin could not be found.
Minister Ducarme is currently considering the FASFC audit. From Thursday, it also seeks to see all reports of inspections that the FASFC has conducted in “Vevaba” since 2001. He criticises the agency for serious shortcomings “given the knowledge available since October 2016”.
Director FASFC, Herman Dirikks announced the parliament that the agency will co-operate fully with the public prosecutor. Despite that, however, the Belgian opposition demands his resignation.
