Approximately 35% of the operators checked by inspectors of the National Food Safety Agency use compounds based on vegetable and animal fats as substitutes of fresh cow cheese in the filling for pies. In February, 80% of the pie making units in the country did so, IPN reports.

According to the Agency, imports of protein and high-fat foods in April-October 2023 decreased by 30% compared with 2022, 2021 and 2020.

During the last inspections, the Agency’s inspectors identified a number of violations in the sale of pies directly to end users. The pies don’t contain a mention about the used ingredients either in the form of notices or in any other form available to consumers. The list of ingredients is incomplete or doesn’t correspond to the used raw material.

In this connection, 25 contravention reports with fines totaling 175,000 lei were drawn up.

The National Food Safety Agency warns that it is banned using the name of pie with “cheese” or pie “with cheese product” for products whose filling doesn’t contain cow cheese or contains a mixture of cow cheese and products based on vegetable oils. The operators are obliged to indicate a compound ingredient in the list of ingredients under the product’s name, followed by the enumeration of the own ingredients. The foods put up for sale in non-packed form should include information about all the used ingredients and this should be visible to users.