"Maxima sells back salmonella-contaminated poultry meat

The retail chain „Maxima“ has again sold unsafe products to customers. A week ago, our portal already reported on the staggering amount of contaminated meat sold by the company. This time, 544 kg of salmonella contaminated poultry meat went to consumers' homes.

The State Food and Veterinary Office (SVVT) issued a notification of pathogenic micro-organisms detected in the middle parts of fresh broiler chicken wings in the RASFF system on 14 March

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Indrė Trakimaitė-Šeškuvienė, Head of the Communications and Corporate Communications Department at „Maxima LT“, revealed that Salmonella spp. bacteria were found in poultry meat following the company's own self-monitoring tests. The products had a best before date of 11.03.2025 and were sold in their entirety to customers.

„We took immediate action – we informed the supplier, provided all the necessary information to the MoHVT, and put up information posters in the stores urging customers to return the product to the stores within the stated shelf life“, – assured the representative of „Maxima LT“.

Interestingly, the manufacturer of the middle parts of fresh chicken wings – AB „Vilniaus paukštynas“. 

Excessive levels of campylobacter were recently detected in frozen chicken fillets produced by this company.

An outbreak of distemper in a kindergarten in Marijampolė County was caused by unsafe production. Sandra Vičienė, Communications Manager of AB „Vilniaus paukštynas“, was not willing to comment on the situation at the time and suggested contacting the resellers of the products for details. In this case, the company's representative expressed regret and stated that AB „Vilniaus paukštynas“ is doing its utmost to reinforce its self-control mechanisms and to ensure the highest standards of quality and safety.

„We are in close cooperation with the supermarket chain and immediately took all necessary measures to resolve the situation“, – claimed S. Vičienė, adding that laboratory tests carried out at the company on samples from the same batch were negative for salmonella.

„After receiving the information from the customer, we immediately took further action and started extended investigations to find out the cause of this case. We are still awaiting answers from the investigations," added the Communications Manager of AB „Vilniaus paukštynas“ about the unsafe products.

VMVT spokeswoman Aistė Prielgauskaitė assured that unscheduled inspections are carried out after each RASFF notification of unsafe food. In all cases, if an unsafe product is distributed, protocols for violation of the Food Law are drawn up, and consequently, enforcement measures are taken," the specialist added. It is not possible to check the entire batch of a product, so the entire batch is nonetheless ordered to be withdrawn from the market for safety reasons.

„Food business operators have a responsibility to the consumer to supply only safe food, but also to choose a trustworthy supplier, which we want to believe should be the attitude of every rational business. This is always emphasised by the HVO during inspections, that it is the responsibility of the food handler to assess and choose a safe supplier who will supply a safe product. It is not for the VMVT to prescribe or prohibit market operators from choosing one or another partner. Recommending yes and that is what we do. It is the responsibility of the VMVT to exercise proper control – – the situation why one or another company so often finds itself in the system of recording violations, commented A. Prielgauskaitė, adding that if businesses do not see a problem with constantly appearing on the consumer RASFF bulletin board, it is up to them.