EU – Baltic States, Foodstuff, Legislation, Lithuania, Markets and Companies

"There is no objective data of discrimination of Central and Eastern European countries only. When member-states submitted their analyses, they show that the problem exists across the European Union. The strife (to defend your country) is fully comprehensible, however, the research does not suggest discrimination between the new and the old countries of the European Union," Andriukaitis told a Lithuanian parliamentary commission in comment of different quality of groceries.

"The problems exist in Germany and they exist in Belgium, strangely enough, Latvia said they had no problems. Why didn't the Latvians find problems? They research methods may be different from the Lithuanian ones, however, Latvians said they had no problems (in connection to different quality of food products," the EC member said.

At the same time, he called upon countries to "refrain from misusing the dogma of having second-rate (people) in Lithuania and first-rate in Germany."

The commission was set up by the Lithuanian parliament last October to look into the differences of the same brands of food products sold in Lithuania and other EU countries. The probe should be completed by the spring session, March 10.

The probe was opened after the Lithuanian State Food and Veterinary Service said it had found differences in the composition of some food products sold in Lithuania and in Germany. Producers have dismissed the claims as ungrounded, noting that the differences were due to different preferences of consumers on different markets, not different quality.

One of the issues examined by the parliamentary panel is the reason why the Lithuanian food watchdog's inquiry came later than in other countries in Central and Eastern Europe.

As reported, the Food and Veterinary Service which carried out tests in Latvia, found insignificant differences between imported food products sold in Latvia and the same products sold in other countries.

The Food and Veterinary Service analyzed a total of 38 food products and three pet food samples. According to the service's findings, different - more and less expensive - ingredients were used in making some of the food products, but laboratory tests did not establish significant differences in the nutritional values and fat contents in these products.

As reported, the quality of products of the same brands sold in Latvia and other EU member states was analyzed after the revelation made by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on September 13 that products sold in some parts of the EU are of inferior quality as compared to the products of the same brands sold in other countries, even though their packaging and brands are identical.

In his annual State of the Union speech on September 13, Juncker slammed the dual standards of food quality and said that some of the products sold in Central and Eastern Europe are of inferior quality than those of the same brands sold in Western Europe, even though quality standards should be the same across the bloc.