
The catering company SORI-AL has reacted to the decision of the National Food Authority (AKU) to allow the normal continuation of its activity, following inspections carried out regarding two reported episodes of health concerns among students of the Security Academy.
In a public statement, the company claims that for more than two months it has faced accusations of a "massive food poisoning", while official verifications, according to it, have not confirmed a link between the food prepared by SORI-AL and the health condition of the students.
Full company statement
Two months of accusations. A completely different official conclusion...
For more than two months, public opinion was bombarded with the news that “SORI-AL” had caused massive food poisoning. Today, after the completion of all official verifications, it turns out that no institution has confirmed such a conclusion. However, the damage to the company’s reputation has been done and cannot be undone by a report or an administrative notice.
Throughout this period, "SORI-AL" cooperated without any reservations with every state institution, opened its premises for every check and re-check, made every requested document available, and awaited the completion of the verifications without conducting a trial in the media and without prejudging the work of the authorities.
The official documents speak clearly. QSUT confirms that no patient has been diagnosed with food poisoning and that there is no medical report linking the patients' condition to the consumption of food cooked by SORI-AL. ISUV resulted negative for food samples taken during the official control, a result also confirmed by the analyses of the accredited private laboratory.
The State Health Inspectorate found no legal violations, the Institute of Public Health confirmed that it had not conducted laboratory analyses of the food, while the National Food Authority closed the procedure without finding any violations and allowed the company to continue its normal activities. Even the clinical data show a completely different picture than what was created in public opinion.
In the first episode, out of 45 people presented to the QSUT, 43 were discharged within 1 to 4 hours, while only 2 stayed longer for monitoring. In the second episode, out of 67 people, 66 were discharged within 30 minutes to a few hours, while only one person was hospitalized for several days. These are official medical facts, not interpretations.
Precisely for this reason, protecting a business's reputation cannot be treated as a secondary issue, especially when public perception has been created before official documents have spoken.
In recent days, state institutions have rightly reacted to the damage to the reputation of businesses through false comments and ratings on social networks, emphasizing that protecting business is a public interest.
We fully support this standard. But an equally important question arises: when a business's reputation is damaged by communications or actions of public institutions themselves, which are ultimately not supported by official documents of their procedures, who is responsible for the damage caused?
In a state of law, the truth should have the same public resonance as accusations...