Roundup: Lithuanian food-safety chief urged to resign amid bacteria-contaminated food scandal

Lithuanian Agriculture Minister Virginija Baltraitiene suggested on Monday that Jonas Milius, chief of the State Food and Veterinary Service, should resign amid harmful bacteria-contaminated frozen food scandal.

Despite urging to "make his own decision," Baltraitiene underlined in the statement that the ministry had no "any legal basis to submit a proposal to the prime minister over the dismissal of Milius."

The minister pointed to "political speculations and groundless accusations" which prevail in the election year and "undermine the work of the Service (State Food and Veterinary Service or VMVT) and people's trust in the food safety system."

At the end of July, the general prosecutor's office of Lithuania started a pre-trial investigation into the case in which Milius, director of VMVT, is suspected of abuse of office and forgery of documents.

It is suspected that VMVT could hide information about human health-threatening bacteria found in frozen dumplings produced by Judex, a manufacturing company based in the Lithuanian second largest city Kaunas.

Investigators ordered Milius not to leave the country. Currently, Milius is on his holiday's leave.

Available data raise suspicion that heads of Judex company attempted to avoid penalties for occupational safety, packaging, labelling, hygiene or other violations, ELTA news agency reported.

It is suspected that the administration of the company sought to bribe specialists of the VMVT or people who could influence them.

Listeria bacteria harmful to people was found in Judex products, but the company concealed the finding and is suspected of not taking required actions.

Judex firm says it sells about 15 tons of frozen products per day, the majority of which are exported to Latvia, Estonia, Britain, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Russia and Belarus. Popular items of Lithuanian cuisine such as frozen dumplings and pancakes are among Judex products.

While the investigation is being carried on, Lithuania's main retail chains announced last week that Judex products had been withdrawn from shelves. Jubex's activities were temporarily suspended by the VMVT.

According to some experts, the scandal which involves the main food-safety supervising agency threatens the reputation of the whole Lithuanian food industry, an important manufacturing sector in the country.

Moreover, Petras Grazulis, member of Lithuanian parliament (Seimas), has been named as a special witness in the case due to his alleged ties to Judex company.

Grazulis has been under investigation over influence peddling and forgery of documents, however, the politician refused to testify.

Grazulis could allegedly influence the food authority's decision not to inform the society of the harmful bacteria, investigators claimed.

The scandal evoked harsh reaction from Lithuanian politicians.

"These are scandalous fact (...); the situation is far from being funny," Juras Pozela, the country's health minister, posted on Facebook last week after evidences of harmful bacteria in dumplings were revealed by law enforcement agencies.

Pozela called for responsibility from Milius and the agriculture minister.

Meanwhile, Lithuanian Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius asked Agriculture Minister Baltraitiene to provide findings about the activities of VMVT and to draw a conclusion about whether Milius can continue as the head of the food safety office.

In her statement released on Monday, Baltraitiene claimed that neither the ministry nor the government received any complaints about Milius'work so far.

"There have been no outbreaks of diseases in Lithuania," the minister also noted.

The prime minister will have to decide on Milius' fate this week, the ministry said. Endit