RIGA - Major renovations at Maxima's regional stores were already underway when some customers succumbed to food poisoning caused by contaminated ready-made food bought at one of the stores on May 29, says company quality management chief Dace Grava.
Maxima Latvija, one of Latvia's largest retailers, had already started to invest 1.1 million lats (1.56 million euros) to improve cooking facilities at its food stores, the company reports.
Company spokesman Ivars Andins said that more than 140,000 lats has already been spent on the project. "Within [the past] month Maxima Latvija carried out significant improvements in its cooking and quality supervision systems, implementing the first stage of the quality management plan submitted to the Food and Veterinary Service (PVD)," he said.
"The company has replaced production equipment, all 12 cooking departments have been equipped with stainless steel dishes, modern packaging equipment has been installed, conditioning systems installed, etc.," said Andins.
Second stage investments of 680,000 lats will be spent on additional equipment, such as stainless steel shelves, dishwashers and other items.
Grava said that the company is constantly improving systems in stores, and that this started even before the stir after people got ill after consuming Maxima products. "These cases were the result of a combination of several factors: we trusted suppliers, we wanted to do more, and ignored details," she said, adding that the company guarantees that no similar cases will occur in the future.
She noted that even after closing down several cooking departments, the stores did not feel a decline in sales. "Customers trust us," she says.
PVD general director Mareks Samohvalovs said that after getting familiarized with the company's progress at its Maxima store, "Everything is going in the right direction, but there are still several steps to be made. The quality plan should be followed on a daily basis, every hour, every minute," he says.
Samohvalovs emphasized that it is important not only to invest in ensuring quality standards and equipment, but also in training employees.
There are 12 Maxima cooking departments operating at Maxima stores in Latvia.
The PVD suspended kitchen operations at the Deglava Street Maxima supermarket after some people got sick after consuming hot food bought there. In another store the PVD shut down hot food preparations, and ordered it to limit the amount of the ready-made products stored in refrigeration.
Maxima Latvija is one of the largest retailers in Latvia, owning Maxima retail stores throughout the country. PVD is a state institution supervised by the Latvian Agriculture Ministry dealing in the control of food circulation and veterinary medicine industries.
