The Food and Economic Security Authority (ASAE) announced on Wednesday that it seized more than 400 kg of live bivalve mollusks in Retail Trade Establishments and Markets during various inspection operations in July.
In a statement, ASAE reports that these actions were carried out by the Southern Regional Unit – Lisbon Operational Unit and took place as part of the fight against criminal offenses against public health. The objective was to verify compliance with the rules, namely, verification of registration documents, origin of bivalves, identification marks, exposure temperature, product packaging methods, and traceability, among others.
In total, ASAE reveals, “87 economic operators were inspected, with 1 criminal case being initiated for spoiled foodstuffs and 25 administrative offense proceedings.”
The main infractions highlighted were “the placing on the market of live bivalve mollusks, echinoderms, tunicates, and live marine gastropods without complying with the conditions established for this purpose in Regulation (EC) No. 852/2004 and Annex III of Regulation (EC) No. 853/2004, non-compliance with the rules and requirements applicable to the production of live bivalve mollusks and handling of live bivalve mollusks established in Annex III of Regulation (EC) No. 853/2004, the production and placing on the market of bivalve mollusks in violation of legal norms, among others.”
In these operations, “more than 400 kg of live bivalve mollusks valued at over 4,500 euros were seized, due to non-compliance with the requirements stipulated for handling bivalve mollusks and lack of requirements in foodstuffs.”
Since the beginning of the year, the authority emphasizes, more than 340 economic operators have been inspected – restaurants, municipal markets, and retailers – resulting in the initiation of 4 criminal cases, 80 administrative offense proceedings, and the seizure of approximately 9 tons of live bivalve mollusks, valued at over 71,000 euros.
