FIFTY TONNES of frozen meat were confiscated by the Portuguese food standards agency (ASAE) from a distribution warehouse in Albufeira on Friday, February 8.
A significant quantity of the meat, which was found inside an unlicensed freezer, was five years out of date. Six tonnes were sent to the Portimão landfill site to be incinerated.
Manuel Santos, regional director of ASAE, told national daily newspaper Correio da Manhã that “some of the meat got damaged by the ice and was improper for consumption.” He also said that part of the confiscated products’ sell-by date had expired in 2003 and some in 2006. “All the indications point to the fact that the meat was being prepared to enter the food markets in Portugal and southern Spain,” Manuel Santos told that national newspaper. No anomalies were found by the ASAE inspectors in the fresh meat stocks at the warehouse.
The company which owns the distribution warehouse where the meat was stored has not been named, but apparently owns the only warehouse in the Algarve providing meat for supermarkets, hotels and restaurants.
A spokesman for the distribution company told Correio da Manhã that the frozen meat was to be thrown away and some “sold to hunting associations to feed dogs”.
Do you have a view on this story? Email: [email protected]
