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The company dumped tons of dangerous gjiro into the Albanian market, did it end up with the consumer?!

2025-10-01 21:53:14Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA REDAKSIA VOX
The company dumped tons of dangerous gjiro into the Albanian market, did it end
The company released tons of dangerous gjiro into the market, did it end up with the consumer?

In October 2024, thousands of tons of meat infected with salmonella were imported by the entity “Bajraktari Food”. According to the national food authority, this is over 26 thousand kg of imported chicken meat, which was used as raw material for the production of 17 thousand and 500 kg of gjiro. As we know them otherwise, chicken soufflés. When the analyzes came out that confirmed the presence of salmonella, this quantity had ended up on the market. The entity was fined for two different violations in the amount of 600 thousand lek. But, it was too late. The quantity of tons of dangerous meat had ended up with the consumer.

"There are a number of food safety issues in Albania. The legislation has significant shortcomings, or sometimes, to appease the business, it exposes the consumer to certain microbial loads," said Ervin Resuli, a food safety expert.

"What has been lacking throughout the history of salmonella outbreaks is the fact that the notification has often been made late, leaving no time for measures to be taken to prevent further spread of infection or exposure to pathogens in the population," said Kapllan Sulaj, Dean of Biotechnology and Food, UBT.

The Bajraktari company released thousands of kilograms of contaminated meat onto the market without waiting for the results of the tests. The map of the spread of the product on the market is not clear. What is known is that there were no public notifications to consumers regarding this shipment. We have contacted the company with a request for information about the map of the spread of the product, or whether it took measures to inform consumers. However, we did not receive any response until the broadcast of the documentary. According to safety regulations, the product should have been fully traced, withdrawn and destroyed, which is not known if it was carried out.

If businesses can get away with a fine of only 600 thousand lek, this has no effect on eliminating the risk. On the contrary, history may repeat itself as it has already happened.

"In 2023 there are 76 thousand cases of salmonella in all EU countries, so it is massive. Albania is not alone," said Granit Sokolaj, food safety expert.

The contaminated meat shipments came from Brazil, how imports from this country doubled and the problems with traceability

Brazil is the country from which Albania imports most meat. It is precisely from that country that problematic shipments have been found to originate in most cases. According to customs data, meat imports from this country are growing at a frightening pace and have doubled in just a four-year period. So if in 2020 about 6,500 tons of meat were imported, in 2024 a full 13,000 tons were imported.

In all cases, Albania imports from EU-certified farms. However, this does not exclude the possibility of cases of abuse.

"Can it happen that imported meat products enter altered and are not part of the EU licensing? Yes, it can happen," said Kapllan Sulaj, Dean of Biotechnology and Food, UBT.

What risks does a person face if they become infected with salmonella?

Salmonella is a bacterial infection that causes diarrhea, fever, and stomach pain. In some cases, it can lead to serious health complications, even life-threatening.

"Salmonella are pathogenic bacteria that directly threaten the life of the consumer. Depending on the infection, the type of strain, they can threaten at different levels, from simple levels to more complicated ones that can even be associated with death," said Kapllan Sulaj, Dean of Biotechnology and Food, UBT.

Salmonella is transmitted by animals, mainly birds, but also humans. At the top of the list is the consumption of raw or undercooked meat, the consumption of eggs or milk that has not been pasteurized. The red alarm is also raised by the fact that salmonella is contagious. In many cases it remains hidden.

"We need to know that we have a large number of tourists who can be carriers of salmonella, so the source can be animals but also people who contaminate products and surfaces," said Kapllan Sulaj, Dean of Biotechnology and Food, UBT.

Frequent cases of salmonella prove that despite legal obligations, institutions have failed to guarantee food safety at all links in the control chain.

"The food safety control chain can fail in one of its links, but it can also fail in all of its links," said Ana Vuksana, a food safety expert.

The ABC of food safety is traceability, a process that serves to guarantee the path a product has taken “from farm to table.” Confirmed data and interviews with experts speak of a distorted reality, far from guaranteeing safety.

"The experimental circuses with the rise and fall of institutions have made food safety, exposing it to risks or abuses that exploit these gaps and abuse the products they put on the market," said Ervin Resuli, a food safety expert.

The food problem becomes more acute when it comes to animal-based products, such as meat, eggs, or milk, which have stricter safety protocols.

For experts, one of the biggest weaknesses is the disconnected chain of control, which is fragmented. As a result, institutions play ping-pong when it comes to accountability.

The first bottleneck starts at border inspection points, where the lack of standardized refrigeration facilities violates every protocol related to product safety.

"The Port of Durrës, today, does not have refrigeration facilities that would enable sampling under the appropriate conditions according to standards. Which means that all minced meat comes at a temperature of -18, which means that if this temperature drops even by 1 degree, this cargo can be contaminated with various pathogens," said Ana Vuksana, a food safety expert.

Granit Sokolaj, who heads an organization that deals with food safety, also says that the situation is particularly worrying at the port of Durres. According to him, in many cases refrigerated trucks importing meat are subject to checks for drugs or other illegal cargo. But the way the police open them is not worthy of food safety.

This is considered a dangerous practice that disregards every principle of food safety. Furthermore, it demonstrates a lack of inter-institutional coordination and a lack of professionalism.

"When the containers are frozen, they go through a drug scanner. From time to time, the scanner produces some red dots that presuppose that they could be drugs or weapons and they need to be opened. When they are opened, they result in various balls of ice, because it can take 1-2 months to arrive," said Granit Sokolaj, a food safety expert.

This is a practice that is only followed in Albania in this form. Experts suggest that the AKU and the Ministry of Agriculture should take action to avoid contamination risks.

"The police open a product that should be kept at -18 degrees and open it at 40 degrees, open it without any hygienic and sanitary conditions, bring in dogs for inspection and here food safety is compromised," said Granit Sokolaj, a food safety expert.

During customs control, there are two procedures: physical control, which means a physical check of the vehicle, cargo or documentation, and then there is the analytical control. Experts suggest that this process be carried out elsewhere, preserving all the characteristics of the cargo's identity.

"Containers should not be opened there, either in cold storage or in the importer's warehouses, they are tracked by the police, taken to the warehouses and opened there. The meat is put in cold storage rooms, so that the meat that comes to us is not contaminated," said Granit Sokolaj, a food safety expert.

For Ervin Resulin, who says that the situation has changed in the last year at the port of Durres, in many cases it is the institutions themselves that complicate the situation.

"A year ago, a refrigerated point was built in the port of Durrës because the state institutions themselves were opening the containers in the port square, at a temperature of 40 degrees, and sampling... which means that the institutions themselves are complicating the situation and putting them in conflict with business operators," said Ervin Resuli, a food safety expert.

For Ana Vuksana, former head of the AKU, even if the trucks are inspected at the premises of the specific entity, the chain is still broken and breaks. According to her, the AKU inspectors do not have safe equipment for transporting samples to the ISUV laboratory.

"An even more serious problem is the fact that the inspector, when taking it to ISUV, where the analyses are carried out, fails to achieve the proper thermal regime, i.e. -18 degrees, because the inspector takes it with those refrigerated boxes that we take to the beach," said Ana Vuksana, a food safety expert.

Experts insist that the malfunction of this link also calls into question the results of the analyses that this load may undergo.

"No matter how accredited the laboratory or the analysis, the moment it gives in to the sample, this inevitably compromises the analysis," said Ana Vuksana, a food safety expert.

This whole procedure has another problem. Due to the lack of proper equipment, the anonymity of the sample being analyzed is not guaranteed. This could compromise the process.

"Another problem is maintaining the anonymity of the sample, as inspectors do not have the means to seal it after taking the sample, which could compromise both the sample and the quality of the analysis," said Ana Vuksana, a food safety expert./ Inside Story


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