And how that lamb leg smelled….

Why does the public trust an anonymous worker more than the entire government led by the Prime Minister? Because most of us have at least once come back from shopping with meat that was not right. Not to mention processed meat. Last Saturday, I bought a beautiful lamb leg (about two kilograms, about 140 kuna) at the butcher’s that looked impeccable behind the glass. It was only when I took it out of the wrapping on Sunday that I realized something was wrong with it. It smelled. Not like lamb, but like some chemical it had been treated with to look fresh. There was no point in putting it in the oven. It ended up in the trash can, the same one where the receipt from the butcher had ended up a day earlier.

And so, when some anonymous worker, who claims to work in some meat industry, presents his testimony on television about the import of years-old meat and how meat returned from stores due to expiration is turned into minced schnitzels, I know he is telling the truth. And so, when Minister of Agriculture Petar Čobanković claims that this is not possible, and Prime Minister Kosor says it is not possible because Minister Čobanković told her so, I know I have no reason to believe them. And they know it too, but it is up to them to prevent the disgrace. Only the disgrace has already broken, and that is because Minister Čobanković has not been doing his job properly. It is his duty to use all legal means at his disposal to prevent the import of low-quality meat and to punish those who do so, rather than justifying the entire meat industry by claiming that no one does this.

For reasons that are incomprehensible to me, the claim that no one in Croatia does this has been joined by the interest association Croatiastočar as well as members of the meat industry united in the Croatian Chamber of Economy. They have jointly announced that they will file lawsuits against the media that reported on the import of hygienically unsound old meat and thereby, they say, caused them multi-million damages. I do not understand why all those companies in the meat industry that have invested enormous efforts and resources into the production process and have impeccable meat would go on to claim that what the anonymous worker says, what the media are exposing, and what we all know is not true!? Wouldn’t it be more logical for such companies to ask Minister Čobanković to specify who is doing this and to remove them from the market? Or, perhaps, there are no innocents in this story? I do not believe so. I could easily name a dozen companies whose quality I would bet on. However, there is no benefit in them justifying themselves to the public through intensified marketing activities. Stories about top quality can be spun endlessly, but everyone will still be suspicious until the one who is guilty surfaces. The one who washed the lamb leg with chemicals to make it look fresh.