VILNIUS, Feb. 27 (Xinhua) -- Food products sold by multinational food companies in Lithuania which are of different quality from their analogues in other European countries should be marked with a special labeling, a parliamentary commission said on Tuesday.
"The problem of dual quality of food is important both for the old EU states and for new member states. The situation is partly more serious in our country as our consumer rights organizations are weak," Guoda Burokiene, member of the Lithuanian parliament and chairwoman of the commission for probing the issue, was quoted as saying by local media.
In her words, the issue of dual food quality is an EU-level issue as there is no general quality concept within the bloc. However, the commission called for more clear rules in Lithuania in terms of quality of food products.
"We need not only to implement coordination mechanisms but also make clear rules as regards the products sold in our country, their labeling and our requirements," Burokiene said last month after sitting of the parliamentary commission.
The commission was set by the parliament last year in order to analyze alleged inequality as regards products quality in different EU countries and submit its proposals.
Last September, notable differences in the quality of ingredients in the products that multinational food companies sell in Lithuania, compared to Germany, were found after Lithuania's State Food and Veterinary Service tested a few dozen products.
Among other disclosures, it was found more chocolate in German Milka chocolates than those sold in Lithuania, while peach flavored Nestea in Germany contained only sugar, compared to additional artificial sweeteners in Lithuania.
The double standards issue within EU, discovered not only in food stuff, but also in cosmetics, household chemicals and other products, has been recently a subject to public debate in Eastern and Central Europe countries.
