500kg of meat destroyed at Pyrgos hotel
AGRICULTURE Minister Timis Efthymiou yesterday vouched for the suitability of meat on the Cypriot market, saying consumers had nothing to fear, after veterinary service inspectors located nearly 500 kilos of unstamped meat at Paphos district hotel.
He said: “These inspections will continue and the fact that you hear about unsuitable meats, unsuitable foods or unsuitable products of animal origin is a credit to the [veterinary] services because it’s these inspections that bring these things out into the open and so consumers know that what is on their plates is – as much as possible – healthy food.”
Efthymiou was speaking to reporters following a veterinary services announcement which said Paphos and Polis Chrysochous veterinary officers located unstamped animal meat in the Ifigenia Hotel’s ground floor fridge in Kato Pyrgos on Thursday. The hotel’s owners deny the meat belongs to them.
“It is not possible for unsuitable meat to have made its way into the hotel by itself. Some people are definitely responsible. All those responsible will be prosecuted and on these matters we will act promptly,” the minister said.
The veterinary services said they had confiscated and destroyed 17 kid goats and seven brains weighing a total 425 kilos, as well as 70 kilos of pork. None of the meat was stamped to show it was veterinary approved.
Police were called to the scene, and the veterinary services, in collaboration with the authorities, have extended their investigation to neighbouring farms.
“The phenomenon of illegal slaughtering, wherever it comes from, is unacceptable because it endangers food safety and public health because the consumed meat and its by-products have not been submitted to the necessary veterinary inspections,” the announcement said.
Efthymiou said the veterinary services would continue their inspections on a daily basis so as to continue avoiding similar violations and to ensure consumers purchased good quality foodstuffs.
Copyright © Cyprus Mail 2006
