Portugal’s food safety and economic monitoring authority (ASAE) has seized around 24,000 litres of a product labelled as “special seasoning” located inside an olive oil packaging facility in the Bragança district, reports agribusiness intelligence portal, IEG policy.
The product was seized in the course of a follow-up investigation that has been underway for several months, says the website, quoting an official ASAE source as adding that 63,000 “irregular labels” were also seized.
Production at the facility has been temporarily suspended “because the plant failed to ensure proper hygiene conditions, and failed to comply with general requirements”, the article continues.
ASAE inspectors have meantime collected samples to “check physical and chemical parameters and to verify suspicions about packaged products discovered on site”.
Says the text “powered by EU Food Law”, ASAE has still not released findings of the additional tests and the olive oil packaging facility remains ‘unidentified publicly’.
natasha.donn@algarveresident.com
