A year after the rotten meat scandal surrounding the popular meat skewer, the owners apparently haven’t learned anything! There was currently a raid on 221 snack bars – and the financial police found something everywhere.
In the summer of last year, a wave of disease swept through Europe. Cheap chicken meat from Poland for kebab skewers was contaminated with salmonella. Here alone, 27 victims fell ill from the germs, and a 63-year-old Carinthian even died.
There were also more than 100 patients in Germany, Denmark, France, the Netherlands, Norway and Great Britain.
“Spicy” campaign at local kebab stalls
Now, a year later, the figures from a five-day Austrian “spicy” campaign at local kebab stalls by the financial police are dramatic. It seems as if the snack bar owners have learned nothing. Because almost none of the 221 inspected companies worked according to the law!
The balance sheet is also “shocking” for the finance ministers.
In total, 272 violations were discovered by officials. “Unfortunately, the results of the focus campaign are frightening. We will continue to carry out such large-scale checks and thus protect all honest companies,” said Finance Minister Magnus Brunner.
The list of defects shown is long: from undeclared work to unused cash registers (in 48 cases this was missing, and in another 60 there was no correct invoice), the trade rules and catastrophic hygienic conditions. The Food Inspection had to be alerted in three snack bars.
Illegal work, low wages etc. in focus
In addition, among the total of 418 workers investigated – 286 of whom were of foreign origin – there were more than 150 complaints about incorrect or non-existent work documents, violations of social security reporting, wage dumping, etc.
As part of the nationwide raid, almost 40,000 euros in tax debts were collected. The inspected companies are now threatened with significant additional payments and fines.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
