NEWS

Bad meat is still on the menu

Health inspectors were back at the central Varvakeios Market in Athens yesterday, just hours after shutting down a warehouse there, and confiscated over 500 kilos of meat that they deemed unfit for humans. The Varvakeios Market is best known for its meat stalls, and a television report on Saturday detailing the dire conditions in which one seller was storing his meat prompted officials from the Athens Prefecture to check on his premises. They found rats and cockroaches in his warehouse and seized 152 kilos of meat. The storage area was sealed. Authorities last night were still looking for the meat seller, but the discovery led to new checks on the market. An inspection yesterday revealed another 522 kilos of suspect red meat and poultry at one of the shops in the market. In both cases, the owners have been referred to prosecutors. Inspectors from the Piraeus Prefecture were also busy yesterday as they confiscated 220 boxes, weighing a total of 1.4 tons, of sheep entrails from Bulgaria. Officials said the meat, seized at a firm in Moschato, lacked the proper paperwork. Another 116 kilos of meat was seized at a store in Piraeus. Meanwhile, Development Minister Dimitris Sioufas met with the heads of a number of the country’s prefectures to discuss how checks should be carried out. He said that local authorities had the power to shut businesses down if the offenses warranted such action, but that they had seemed reluctant to do so until now. Piraeus Prefect Yiannis Michas emphasized the need for a written agreement between local authorities and the Hellenic Food Authority (EFET). Michas said that prefectures should be responsible for initial checks, as they had more manpower than the food safety watchdog.

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