Due to recent salmonella cases, consumers have turned towards fish and other food products.
Sales of fresh and frozen chicken, duck and turkey fell by almost 40 percent, and of other types of meat by about 25 percent, after inspections of the Ministry of Agriculture found salmonella in meat sold in Croatian supermarkets, reports Večernji List on November 30, 2016.
Just in the last few days, the Ministry informed consumers about problems with frozen chicken breast without skin and bones produced by a company from Thailand and sold in Croatia. While almost daily there are new cases of reports from laboratories that salmonella has been found in meat products, consumer confidence has deteriorated substantially, primarily for imported meat, but also for meat products from Croatia. And that has already had financial repercussions for producers and retailers.
Almost all of the retail chains were ready to unofficially comment on the situation, One retailer said that that the sale of all types of meat in their stores has fallen in recent days by as much as 50 percent.
Fresh poultry, which used to be sold out in just a few days, especially products sold at very low prices and imported from Poland, Hungary or Italy, now can be bought for next to nothing. The 2.5 kilograms ducks from Hungary, which used to be sold out in a day at the price of 50 kuna, can now be bought for about 25 kuna, or 9.99 kuna per kilogram. A kilo of Polish chicken fillet, whose regular price until recently was 50 kuna, is now on sale for 29 kuna.
Branko Bobetić, director of the association of producers in the meat and dairy industry Croatiastočar, said that everyone can make a mistake. However, consumers should put greatest emphasis on the short supply chain, which can bring meat from the slaughterhouse to the store within 12 to 24 hours, and that can only be guaranteed by Croatian producers who are under rigorous daily control regime.
If the process of bringing food from farms to tables is short, that means there is less possibility for something to happen, Bobetić said. Problems with falling sales, particularly of fresh and frozen chicken and turkey, have been registered by the Croatian Chamber of Economy as well. We can only speculate what will happen if this situation persists, and if Croatian consumers decide to substitute their Christmas turkey or chicken with carp, trout or sea bass, or plain vegetables.
