The Madrid municipal police seized around 300 kilos of food in poor condition and put them on sale to the public at the Asia supermarket, 7, Nicolás Sánchez street. In this case, the particularity lies in the fact that these are species such as snails carrying intestinal parasites (dangerous for human consumption); a few millimetric anchovy fry; waste; black chickens (literally); dried squid and zander for sport hunting. All of this is prohibited for distribution, and the worst thing is that it happens in a generic chain supermarket.
On October 7, around 11 a.m., agents from the Citizen Services Office (OAC) of the General Police Station of the Usera District went to the establishment because they knew that it was selling anchovies measuring between 1 and 2 centimeters, while the legal minimum is 9.
They weren’t wrong. They were there, on the canned goods shelves, labeled in Chinese and without specification of species. Some shelves on which it was said that there were also (although at that time it was not found) clove fish, “which is impossible because it is a species of the order of sharks in danger of extinction and whose specimens measure 20 centimeters at birth,” they explain to the ABC sources of the investigation.
This is how the much larger Pezqueñines operation began by carefully inspecting the supermarket, which consists of an area for selling packaged products to the public, a fishmonger, a butcher’s shop, fruit and vegetables, with refrigerators and freezers. . There were also these devices in a warehouse. In the fish market section, the municipal police observed products on display that did not present mandatory data such as price, species, catch or aquaculture area, fishing area, if they were fresh or defrosted…
In a basket were snails identified by Chinese letters and filled with slime. The manager presented a purchase invoice dated September 3 for a marine species called ‘Nassarius mutabilis’, which did not match the freshwater one called ‘Cipango paludina chinensis’ or, popularly, ‘mystery snail’ ‘Chinese’. That is, they were clandestinely importing goods from a country outside the EU, in violation of customs controls.
While checking the fishmonger’s cold room, officers spotted three polystyrene boxes labeled sea bass, but each containing 20 kilos of snails (60 in total). They were entirely covered in mud, without purification treatment or filtration or health guarantee: “This species transmits intestinal parasites to humans, with a serious risk for the health of consumers,” declared the participants in their lawsuit. verbal. The supermarket manager explains it this way: “These are just snails that come and are eaten in China and that have to be covered with mud to preserve them.” Many were dead and eventually around 22,000 specimens were seized for destruction.
The supermarket investigated yesterday, open to the public, in Usera
At the fishmonger they also found a plastic bag containing six defrosting squid: “We buy them frozen in large boxes and we defrost them to refreeze them in small bags, then we defrost them again to sell.” Not the slightest respect for the cold chain.
In the butcher’s shop, in two cold rooms, there were offal and meat, as well as a garbage bag full of salmon heads. In two displays in the sales area, they found frozen products with a certain traceability: hidden bags containing squid, cuttlefish, meats of different formats, some inside bags, others without any type of protection… The manager’s version: “We defrost them later for storage.” sale and have undergone the same treatment as described above. There were pieces with frozen and dry areas and, of course, no labeling. Moreover, some of these bags were previously used to store recycled clothing.
The store is still open
Among the fishmonger’s specimens, a 2 kilo zander stands out, coming from fresh water and declared an invasive species in Spain. As it comes from sport fishing, it is not marketable. The manager of the Chinese supermarket argued: “It’s for her own consumption”, but she was in the sales area. In the frozen baskets, they found dried, unlabeled squid, as well as a dozen black chickens with their legs, heads and even feathers.
Finally, from the trunks alone, 276 kilos of goods were removed and were sealed or sent directly to Health for destruction. Of course, the district council keeps the supermarket open, as usually happens after so much police work.
