TIRANA, Apr. 25- A survey from the investigative TV show “Fiks Fare” in Kuà§ovà« and Berat, considered the biggest producers of fruit and vegetable in Albania, found that farmers use stimulants and hormones on fruits and vegetables so they can hit the market sooner, causing possibly irreparable damage to consumers.
The report showed how farmers smear tomatoes so they appear redder on the outside. Similarly, the watermelon plants blend with hormones for 10 hours and enter the market by early summer. When the journalists asked the farmers whether they consume these products themselves, they said no.
An agriculture employee from a greenhouse in Lushnja showed journalists how they would mix a variety of hormones to produce the watermelon. The employee indicated that the hormones came from Greece and they were brought by a Greek merchant, who communicated only with the agronomist or the owner. Everything was kept in complete secrecy and the employees only made the agronomically recommended mixtures. The employee admitted to not knowing what the hormones and chemicals were.
Furthermore, after the variety of hormones is used, the agronomist would collect their packaging and burn them, leaving no trace. He showed that within a day they would make a mix of three hormones, throwing it into the water tank which then supplies the watermelon plants and the next day at 6 o’clock in the morning, the watermelon is ready to be picked. In the irrigation water, the show found mixed growth hormone, ripening hormone and an ornamental hormone. During the night, a hormone for product preservation was also added to the water.
The employee said that within ten hours a watermelon was made, and for a day they would produce 23 tons watermelon. The greenhouse worker added that there is no flavor whatsoever to these watermelons, as they only appear ripe on the outside.
“Fiks Fare” is an investigative and satiric show aired at Top Channel, which receives complaints by citizens and then investigates the cases. The editorial office has been receiving many complaints by citizens lately regarding the quality of tomatoes, claiming they couldn’t be eaten as they were grown by hormones. After investigating the case, the journalists found that there is a considerable amount of abuse with hormone usage, up to four times over the norm.
“The food hormone is allowed everywhere in the world, but here they [the farmers] want to take production from first to fifth floor,” said another agronomist near Lushnja.
Another scandal in food additives was found later in “Top Story,” another investigative show.
“Top Story” showed the abuse with brick and plaster powder, used massively in foods. Brick dust serves as a dyestuff, while plaster can be used to strengthen products such as cheese. To make matters worst, in Albania there are no labs to identify these additives prior they hit the market and consumer stores.
“Instrumental analysis has also revealed the percentage of elements that we have not known in advance. It has not come to our mind that products totally incompatible with food ingredients might have been used. Inorganic dust powders, inert powders. Such dyes are used as colorants, but I won’t go into detail,” said Prof. Dr. Ilirjan Malollari, who is a chemical materials food expert.
Food products that are packed with recycled materials endanger human life. According to experts, there is evidence that recycled materials used for packaging migrate carcinogenic elements into foods. Here we can mention packed minced meat, fungus, butter, milk, olive oil, water, and various juices. As Dr. Malollari explains, this happens because in food packaging, coexistence is never friendly between the product and packaging. Food packaging emits and migrates cancerous products. He said there is evidence that there are ingredients not part of the food product at the time of its production. Among these products, he mentioned milk, olive oil, and water.
There are products which need to be analyzed with exquisite instrumental devices, as lack thereof results in components that directly attack human health. To guarantee food security, every chain link plays a decisive role. It is necessary to understand that food contamination starts from the ground, the way the animals are fed, how the products are processed, stored and transported to the consumer’s table.
