In response to a complaint, Latvian Food and Veterinary Service (PVD) performed an inspection at Maxima supermarket located on Grostonas Street 1. Inspectors found Polish cucumbers that had Latvia stated as their country of origin on the price tag, as confirmed by PVD representatives.
PVD representatives say that during the inspection it was found out that Poland is the actual country of origin of the cucumbers in question. The seller has promised to fix this problem immediately. An administrative violation procedure has been commenced over this incident.
According to PVD representatives, inspections were carried out in other Maxima Latvia stores, but no similar violations were found.
PVD performs regular inspections of various stores and markets. This includes planned and surprise inspections.
PVD also notes that every spring, when the local vegetable, fruit and berry season begins in Latvia, PVD puts these food products on its priority list. This is done in order to make sure traders state accurate information about the origin of fresh fruits, vegetables and berries, and also because during this season some traders try to pass off fruits, vegetables and berries from other countries as locally grown products.
At the end of February, PVD checked multiple wholesale and retail sale companies after receiving information about possible misleading of consumers through sales of Russian and Belarusian cucumbers as Polish cucumbers. Three out of ten Kvalass LLC retail stores inspected in Riga were found to have mislead cucumbers this way because no one wanted to buy Russian cucumbers. An administrative violation case was initiated over this, as confirmed by PVD.
On the 14th of March Agricultural Organisation Cooperation Council (LOSP) received information from Latvijas dārznieks association regarding possible violations from the biggest retailer chains in Latvia, LOSP reports, stressing that farmers have expressed justified concern about the possible misleading of the Latvian population by the chain of shops, indicating false or not indicating at all the true country of origin of cucumbers and other vegetables, as LETA was informed by LOSP representatives.
“There is publicly available information about Poland massively procuring vegetables, especially cucumbers, from Russia. At the same time large amounts of cucumbers are currently being sold by supermarkets in Latvia with Poland stated as their country of origin,” says LOSP member organisation Latvijas dārznieks board chairman Jānis Bērziņš. He also stresses there is reason to believe there could be mass misleading of residents and European market distortion at play.
Bērziņš explains that he has personally spoken with Latvian vegetable farmers, asking them about the cucumber harvest and supply volumes. He says that farmers told him that the harvest of small cucumbers has only just started in Latvia. For example, there is information about a single farmer starting cucumber collection on the 14th of March, stressing in addition that the volume of cucumbers collected so far is rather small.
LOSP board chairman Guntis Gūtmanis says members of the organisation have had discussions in which they found multiple discrepancies when looking at vegetables in stores sold as Latvian products. Noting that these vegetables do not have the lowest price, which forms a misleading and also destructive picture of Latvian vegetable prices and the image of farmers, the chairman of the LOSP board invites every citizen to carefully evaluate which vegetables they choose to put in their basket.
LOSP also notes that suspicions about the practice of stating false countries of origin is not unique to cucumbers. Bērziņš says that only two companies in Latvia are able to supply tomatoes in large volumes – Getliņi eko and Mežvidi. The two companies growth tomatoes in greenhouses. Cabbages with Kazakhstan listed as their country of origin are also in question, since it is not possible for this country to be having a harvest in this period of time.
This is why the chairman of the board of Latvijas dārznieks reminds that every fresh vegetable has its season, so residents have to pay attention when shopping for fresh products.
Maxima Latvia representatives told LETA that the company employs an honest trade policy, adding that the company states true information about products’ country of origin, price and other information important to consumers. The company apologized to customers for the situation with Maxima store on Grostonas Street 1, where a human error resulted in consumers being misled.
According to information from Maxima Latvia, this was an isolated case caused by a human error when replacing price tags.
Currently the company is working on preventing such situations in the future.
Also read: Latvian Food and Veterinary Service orders D-vitamin supplement to be removed from stores
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