Things have taken a dangerous turn in this latter scandal, especially as far as producers are concerned, who have been faced with a dramatic drop in consumption. The authorities are also blamed by farmers for their delayed reaction and for failing to find the guilty parties as soon as possible. To protest against the situation, farmers dumped about 10 tonnes of perfectly good milk onto the field on Wednesday and threatened to repeat the action every two days.

The director general of the Employers Association in the Milk Industry, Dorin Cojocaru, played down the criticism levelled at the authorities, saying they did a good job, but did not communicate very well, which generated more panic. Cojocaru warns, however, that milk sales dropped by 35% and are likely to drop even more, to 45%. The losses incurred by milk processors have already been assessed at millions of euros. Agriculture minister Daniel Constantin has given assurances that the milk and dairy products on the market are good for consumption.

On a live television programme, he drank a glass of milk to make his point and allay people’s fears. Following checks at 700 dairy farms, the infamous aflatoxin has been discovered at about 25 farms, but the milk produced by them did not reach the market, said the minister. He recalled that afaltoxin only poses a threat to health if consumed in large quantities over a long period of time, and that not even this threat has been scientifically proven.

Daniel Constantin: “There is no immediate or long-term threat to public health because there is no possibility that the population has been exposed to contaminated milk or dairy products for a long period of time, not to mention that the concentration of aflatoxin that may be dangerous to human health is itself a matter of controversy internationally. There is no scientific demonstration to date that this substance poses a threat, whether in the short or long run, to human health.”

Unfortunately, despite the authorities’ assurances, the lack of consumer confidence has wreaked havoc on the market. Consumption will not pick up anytime soon, producers say, especially as the scandal comes during Lent, a time when, apart from meat and eggs, no dairy products are to be consumed according to Orthodox practice.