The National Veterinary and Food Safety Authority (ANSVSA) has started extensive controls across the country at manufacturers, traders and importers in an effort to tackle the illegal use of psychoactive, psychotropic and narcotic substances in non-animal food products, ANSVSA president Alexandru Nicolae Bociu told AGERPRES on Friday, write Agerpres.

Inspections started on September 21 and will intensify in the next 30 days, targeting importers and storekeepers of hemp seeds used for the food industry, processors and traders of hemp and poppy seeds, derivatives or products containing hemp and poppy seeds, as well as producers and traders who could use or trade illegal psychoactive, psychotropic and narcotic substances in non-animal foods.

Inspections will also look at warehouses for non-animal food products, production facilities for vegetable oils, milling, flour and bakery products, confectionery and pastry, chocolate and sugary product manufacturers, other units that could illegally use/market psychoactive, psychotropic and narcotic substances in non-animal foods.

According to ANSVSA, the current specific legislation regarding food products allows the sale of food-grade hemp seeds coming from the Cannabis sativa L plant, poppy seeds and products made from these seeds, such as seed oil, seed flour and defatted seeds, bakery products or other seed-derived products. The presence of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and poppy alkaloids is allowed within certain limits, as they are regulated across the EU by the legislation on contaminants.

Depending on the specifics of the verified unit and the products available at the date of the inspection, ANSVSA inspectors will take samples from hemp and poppy seeds, derivative products or containing such seeds for the purpose of lab tests for contaminants such as THC and opium alkaloids, as provided for in the ANSVSA Food Safety Supervision and Control Program.