The Romanian Prime Minister Victor Ponta stressed on Wednesday that he would support the most radical measures against those who violate standards regarding food safety.

The head of government made the remarks referring to the recent food scandals, especially the toxic milk scandal in the country.

"I watch all the signals we receive about safety food and the sanitary-veterinary procedures," he said, stressing that "this is an extremely important field and extremely sensitive."

"It is extremely important for me, as prime minister, that this domain may function very well and to show that, both to Romania and to Europe, to all those who benefit from exports from Romania, we have a system that works perfectly," said Ponta, while adding the need of authorities to be strict and to prove credibility and seriousness in taking actions, avoiding at the same time to cause panic.

Ponta stressed that it is important not to affect the economic interests of producers, and at the same time to avoid the risk of falling into a "both national and European panic," making people believe that "nothing is good anymore for them to consume."

The prime minister criticized the ineffective crisis management of the National Authority for Sanitary Veterinary and Food Security (ANSVSA), announcing that the food-safety institution will soon have a new management.

Recently, Romania has been plagued by several cases of food safety issues: the horse meat scandal, the frozen mackerel infested with parasites, vegetables and fruits containing too much pesticide, aflatoxin-contaminated milk. Endi

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