Outrageous incident at two schools in Satu Mare, where hundreds of students received, through the “Program for Romanian Schools”, biscuits with mold and croissants with ants. Fortunately, the children did not get to eat these products, which were detected in time and stopped from consumption. The scandal, however, reached the ears of the County School Inspectorate of the County Council and the ANPC, which fined the distributing company.
The entire batch of biscuits has been withdrawn from consumption
“Everything happened in the first week of school, when, one morning, the distribution company, the one with which the County Council concluded the contract, delivered the biscuits to us. According to the protocol, the food, before being distributed to the children, is checked. We are talking about the so-called triage that is done randomly,” explained to Adevărul the representative of the “Rakoczi Ferenc” secondary school in Satu Mare, one of the educational units that received adulterated food. “We cannot check every single packet of biscuits. We do it like this, on the fly. We take a few packages, look at them carefully, open them. If everything is in order, we release the whole batch for consumption”, said the woman, who wished to remain anonymous.
The employees of the educational unit did the same on September 12. When, however, they had a surprise: the biscuits several packages were moldy. “I saw them at triage. I can’t even believe how lucky I was to discover the very moldy ones. You realize how large quantities come, we look for the needle in the haystack”our source, who filmed the entire scene, told us.
“But we found them, at which point we blocked the whole lot. And that day the children, 750 in number, received only milk. Then, I reported the incident to the School Inspectorate, but I also called other colleagues from other schools to warn them. Luckily, the kids didn’t get these crackers in hand. The spoiled food did not reach them. But that’s only because we discovered them before. But what if it had escaped us too?”, asks the employee of the educational unit.“However, we are talking about children’s health, and you don’t play with something like that! When I saw the mold, I opened the packages and tasted the products. What can I tell you…first of all, they smelled specific, spoiled, moldy, secondly, they tasted bland, like water with flour, something inedible. If we gave them to the animals, they wouldn’t eat them. I can’t describe the taste. It’s a taste of that, not necessarily of mold, but of sitting”.
The woman told us that she fully accepts this decision, to withdraw the entire batch of food. “Any parent can come to me and ask why their child didn’t get the cookies. I will answer very clearly: I cannot afford to give students spoiled food. Anyone can make a complaint, I am at peace that I did the right thing”.
The woman told us that the company that won the tender in Satu Mare county is not on the first offense. “Over time, there have been other incidents, but not so serious. We were sent old, dry, hard products. I’ll also tell you the reason: this distribution company is from Turda. From there to us, in Satu Mare, is a distance of about 200 kilometers. The food arrived within months and was rock hard. You were breaking your head with the horns. Well, that’s normal. If they were prepared a week before, plus the journey to us…they would already be old. Would you give a five-day-old horn to your child? I guess not. This company had no problem with that.” the school employee also specified.
Horns infested with ants arrived at the “Nicolae Steinhardt” Orthodox Theological High School, and the management of the educational unit photographed and recorded the moment.
County School Inspectorate: “There were problems in the past”
I also spoke to the Satu Mare County School Inspectorate and asked for a point of view from there as well. The general school inspector, Anișoara Boitor, told us that the auction for the purchase of these food products is organized by the County Council. “We only receive them in schools. In the first week of school I had two complaints. This does not mean that the problems were only here. It would have been through other parts as well, but they didn’t signal us. In one educational unit, cones with ants were delivered, more precisely to the “Nicolae Steinhardt” Orthodox Theological High School, and to the “Rakoczi Ferenc” school, moldy biscuits were sent. The products come from the same company,” said the inspector. “When we received the notification from the schools, we contacted the County Council and sent an official address with pictures of the respective products. Those there got in touch with the ANPC who came and checked”. Anișoara Boitor confirmed that there have been problems with the food intended for students in the past. “Either the horns are hard, or they are not compliant, or they are..sent as they are sent. We cannot give such things to our children. There should be a discussion with the one who won the auction, to make them aware that these products reach children. Some of them actually consume them and we are responsible for their health. God forbid…”
At Adevărul’s request, the Satu Mare County Council sent a statement explaining what measures it will take from now on regarding the contract with the distribution company. “The Satu Mare County Council informed the distributor SC Fagu Impex SRL about the non-conformity of the bakery products and refused to pay for them. At the same time, the distributor received an official notification informing him that, according to the contractual provisions, he has the obligation to take measures to remedy the problems within 10 days at most. In the situation where it is found that this obligation has not been respected, the Satu Mare County Council will terminate the contract for the supply of bakery products”, the press release states.
The company was fined by ANPC commissioners. “Following the irregularities found by the Satmăra commissioners, the economic operator was penalized for contravention with a fine of 15,000 lei and the measure was ordered to permanently stop the distribution of non-compliant products. Among the most important irregularities, we mention: the distribution of moldy biscuits; the distribution of horns infested with insects (ants), showing mold and being of a hard consistency”, the institution transmitted. The Adevărul reporters also tried to contact the representatives of the bakery company, but no one answered the phone.
