Romania's Prime Minister asked the European Commission to clarify the alert on possible E.Coli infection for cheese from Romania, which contained several errors.

An alert was issued last week in the European Commission’s RASFF – the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed over possible Escherichia coli bacteria (E.Coli) in sheep milk cheese made in Romania.

The alert was issued after notification from Italy, where a boy was diagnosed with E.Coli infection after eating cheese from Romania. However, the situation started taking a new turn when the Italian authorities admitted that the cheese, which came from Romanian dairy company Bradet, was made of cow milk and not sheep milk, according to a statement of the Romanian Sanitary-Veterinary Authority (ANSVSA), issued on Saturday.

“ANSVSA requested the change also to be made in the RASFF portal, in the section where the public has access to,” reads the statement.

Romania's Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos also reacted to this situation on Monday, March 21, asking the European Commission to clarify the alert. According to him, the problem was not only that the Italian authorities gave a wrong alert, mentioning sheep milk instead of cow milk, but that the European Commission referred to all cheese from Romania, not just to the cheese made by the Braded dairy factory.

“I understand that the alert specifically targeted the Bradet products, not other products. The Commission’s communication was too general, and I’ve asked a clarification of these things. From my point of view the things are simple as the alert wrongly targeted the products made from sheep milk, and I understand that it was later corrected with cow milk,” Ciolos said during a press conference in Alba Iulia, reports local Mediafax.

The Prime Minister also added that he would take a very clear position if the situation was not clarified because such errors were unacceptable.

Romanian dairy producer Bradet has been involved in a recent media scandal after Romanian authorities said its dairy products caused the E.Coli infection that resulted in the illness and even death of several children from Arges county. However, later tests showed that the cheese made by the Braded dairy factory was not the source of the infection.

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Irina Popescu, irina.popescu@romania-insider.com