State Inspectorate: Sanitary Inspection Ordered Withdrawal of Suspected Products from the Market

The Sanitary Inspection of the State Inspectorate immediately upon receiving information about the incident in Rijeka conducted an inspection in hospitality establishments and with distributors in Rijeka. As part of the inspections, four samples were taken, all of the Romerquelle brand, which are currently being analyzed at the Croatian Institute of Public Health, stated the State Inspectorate.

– We emphasize that during the inspections in circulation, the suspected batch of Romerquelle Emotion Blueberry Pomegranate 330 ml, which was consumed by a person with bodily injuries, was not found. Following new information received during yesterday regarding events at the Faculty of Science and Mathematics of the University of Zagreb, the sanitary inspection excluded one sample of Coca-Cola, Original taste, Carbonated refreshing non-alcoholic beverage, 500 ml, from a vending machine and two more samples of Coca-Cola 2 l, Original taste and Zero from a retail store, they wrote.

The samples are being analyzed at the Croatian Institute of Public Health.

The sanitary inspection also conducted an inspection at a trading company in Zagreb.

In order to protect public health interests and the health of individuals, and due to the suspicion that the food is not safe, in accordance with the Food Act, the sanitary inspection temporarily prohibited the trading company from placing and withdrawing suspected products from the market.

The inspection process is ongoing, and immediately upon receiving the analysis results, the sanitary inspection will take legally prescribed measures and the State Inspectorate will inform the public about the same.

From the trade sector, we are told that this could have huge consequences for Coca-Cola’s sales, not only in Croatia, from which the competition could benefit the most.

– The speed and of course the results of the findings are crucial, which will also determine how consumers will behave. The damage will be greater if the case drags on or if there is no transparent communication. It is necessary to determine as soon as possible what happened and whether all these reported cases are connected, and to communicate this as clearly as possible to the market. In the meantime, the competition will try to profit even in the long term and impose itself in both retail and the Horeca segment. Coca-Cola is a huge, global operation that has the resources to recover, but this could harm the brand – say our sources.