Cadmium levels in excess of EU regulations have been found in seafood exported to Ukraine by the Lithuanian company Vičiūnai Group, according to the State Food and Veterinary Service (VMVT).
On January 8, a Vičiūnai Group company, Plungės Kooperatinė Prekyba, exported 22 tonnes of seafood from Lithuania to Ukraine, produced by the Chinese producer Zejiang Zhoufu Food Co. The shipment was sampled for heavy metals by VMVT specialists.
“The results of the laboratory tests showed that the cadmium content in the product exceeds the limits set by the European Commission regulation,” the regulator said in a comment to BNS.
Part of the consignment, 7.9 tonnes, has already been shipped to Vičiūnai Group’s Ukrainian subsidiary Viciunai-Ukraina. The VMVT has therefore alerted Ukrainian regulators about the findings.
According to the Ukrainian Food Safety Authority, distributors have been urged to withdraw these products from sales and consumers have been warned.
According to VMVT, the permitted level of cadmium is exceeded by 0.4-2.65 micrograms per kilogram.
The rest of the seafood shipment is currently stored in warehouses in Lithuania and its placing on the market is restricted, the VMVT said. The food can be returned to the country of origin, destroyed, or transported to another country where its cadmium content would be within permitted limits, but only with the consent of its authorities.
This was first reported by vz.lt.
Vičiūnai Group is one of the biggest food processing companies in Lithuania owned by the family of Visvaldas Matijošaitis, who currently serves as the mayor of Lithuania’s second-biggest city Kaunas.
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