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Police seize unhygienic bakeries in southern Italy

Xinhua, June 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

Italian police on Monday seized bakeries suspected of producing large quantities of bread in unhygienic conditions in southern Italy, local reports said.

A total of 13 bakeries were closed in the city of Naples and the surrounding territory. Many of them were found to be in "very bad sanitary conditions," according to ANSA news agency.

Police also reported 63 people and seized around 3.5 tons of bread. The affected bakeries faced fines amounting overall to more than 100,000 euros (about 114,000 U.S. dollars).

One of the seized bakeries, in particular, was reportedly found to have used wood coming from waste material at construction sites, which contained rusty nails and clear traces of lime and paint.

The police raid was welcomed by Carlo Rienzi, president of consumer association Codacons, which campaigns for the protection of consumer rights.

Rienzi told Xinhua that similar seizures have been made in recent months.

"Thousands of checks are carried out every year, but they are not enough. Millions of checks would be needed," he stressed.

Rienzi explained to Xinhua that ASL, the public health administration office, and NAS, a special police force operating under the supervision of the ministry of health, have the role of conducting health checks on food products in Italy.

But due to scarcity of resources, these measures are insufficient, he pointed out. For this reason, Rienzi called on Italian citizens to take an active role in reporting to authorities every unhygienic situation that they happen to uncover.

A statement published Monday by Coldiretti, Italy's largest farming association, said the seizures of adulterated or counterfeit flour, bread and pasta have reached a record value of 65.6 million euros in 2014.

"Due to the economic crisis, the risk of frauds concerning the most common food products in Italy has increased. This illegal business is very dangerous for the health of consumers," the statement said.

Coldiretti encouraged citizens to purchase these food products only from authorized retailers. The average price of bread in Naples, the association noted, is only 1.90 euros per kg, about half of that in Bologna, a city in northern Italy, where bread costs 3.98 euro per kg. (1 euro = 1.14 U.S. dollars) Enditem