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The Berat Prosecutor's Office has ordered the arrest of three people for a food scandal involving over 21,000 kg of mandarins contaminated with banned pesticides.
The arrested are the farmer, the collector and the AKU inspector, who are accused of "abuse of duty", "violation of rules on poisonous substances", "production and sale of food dangerous to human life" and "fraud with food products".
The investigating body says that the tangerines released on the market had a high content of a pesticide, while the products had been returned from another country. In this case, the farmer did not destroy them, but allowed the sale.
Analyses showed that the fruits contained pesticide residues above the permitted rate, posing a serious risk to public health.
Prosecutor's Office Announcement:
Suspicions of placing over 21,000 kg of pesticide-laced mandarins on the market: the farmer, the collector and the inspector are arrested at the request of the Berat prosecutor's office.
At the request of the Prosecutor's Office at the First Instance Court of General Jurisdiction in Berat, citizens ET, AD and ET were arrested for the criminal offenses of 'Abuse of Duty', 'Violation of rules on poisonous substances', 'Production and sale of food and substances dangerous to human health or life' and 'Fraud with food products' provided for by articles 281, 288 and 288/c of the Criminal Code.
From the investigations within the framework of criminal proceedings no. 768 based on the report made by the National Food Authority, General Directorate of Tirana after the rejection in Croatia of 21,593 kg of clementine mandarins suspected of containing the pesticide phosmet, it resulted that the product was purchased by farmers in the Berat and Saranda districts.
From the analysis, it was found that this quantity of mandarins had residues of the pesticide "Phosmet" above the permitted norm (0.075 mg/kg - permitted value ≤ 0.01 mg/kg). At a time when this pesticide has been removed from use since 2022 and is not allowed to be used. Consuming a fruit containing residues of phosmet above the permitted levels can have consequences for human health, especially if exposure is repeated, since phosmet is a toxic chemical.
The investigation revealed that the procedure for returning the unsafe product was carried out without the knowledge of the AKU and the farmer ET said that he had destroyed the product returned by the food business operator in an unidentified place. The farmer himself claimed that he had thrown the goods in the landfill of the Dimal Municipality, where an inspection showed that there was no product residue. Also, in the statement given to the AKU, according to the minutes of the finding, it appears that he has declared that he has thrown the goods into random canals.
Meanwhile, the employee of DRVMB Berat, inspector ET, regarding this case, stated that he has been working in this position for 5 years and is responsible for monitoring plants and issuing phytosanitary certificates. He stated that he went to the farmer after the establishment of the working group and that he took the samples from the farmer's trees. But since he is the person responsible for certifying goods for export, he stated that there were cases where he sent blank certificates to the subject and the subject himself filled them in and sent them back completed with photos and he then registered them in the DRVMB database.
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