Romania's food-safety chief resigns amid food scandal

BUCHAREST, March 13 -- Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta accepted on Wednesday the resignation of Mihai Turcanu, President of the National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority (ANSVSA).

The food-safety chief, accused of ineffective crisis management in the toxic milk scandal, made the decision to resign, after face-to-face discussions with the prime minister.

Turcan's deputy Vladimir Manastireanu was named as the institution's acting chief.

The departure of Turcanu was inevitable, following the announcement made by the prime minister earlier on the day that the ANSVSA will have a new management.

"I had a discussion with the Agriculture Minister and with the President of ANSVSA. We will take the necessary measured today to restructure ANSVSA at the top, so that to improve communication, to make it more efficient," Ponta said earlier at the beginning of the government meeting.

Actually, the prime minister was very dissatisfied with Turcanu's ineffective management in the recent food scandals, especially the toxic milk scandal in the country.

"It is extremely important for me, as prime minister, that this domain may function very well and to show that, both to Romania and to Europe, to all those who benefit from exports from Romania, we have a system that works perfectly," said Ponta, while adding the need of authorities to be strict and to prove credibility and seriousness in taking actions, avoiding at the same time to cause panic.

The head of government stressed that it is important not to affect the economic interests of producers, and to avoid the risk of falling into a "both national and European panic," making people believe that "nothing is good anymore for them to consume."

The dismissal of the ANSVSA manager was also requested in the past days by several federations in the food industry which has been dealt a heavy blow on the background of the problems that have appeared related to some Romanian food products.

Recently, Romania has been plagued by several cases of food safety issues: the horse meat scandal, the frozen mackerel infested with parasites, vegetables and fruits containing too much pesticide, aflatoxin-contaminated milk.

Early on Wednesday, information coming from European rapid alert system shows that Romania is possibly involved in a new food scandal, as Germany withdrew from the market turkey breast with residues of antibiotics.