Several strawberry sellers had no place to go to the toilet

Norwegian strawberries.Photo: Gorm Kallestad / NTB scanpix

The Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority has uncovered several criticisms of several Norwegian strawberry outlets. Several sellers’ lack of access to toilets and clean water.

“We saw a man take some paper into the bushes nearby. He was gone for a few minutes, came back, and continued selling strawberries,” says Bjørn Tore Hansen, supervisor of the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority in Southern Norway to NRK.

They have carried out several inspections the last time after being tipped of poor hygiene and lack of sanitation.

Several of the criticisms found are related to the same strawberry farmers in Vestfold who were banned of selling last year. Then an extensive supervision revealed both poor sanitation and defective work contracts, and that the strawberry salesmen were accommodated in poor living conditions.

Employers have now given the workers access to toilet and clean water, writes NRK.

The Norwegian Food Safety Authority believes, however, that the conditions that the Labor Inspection Authority has revealed are among the exceptions. They have carried out their own inspections at strawberry producers, and believe that there is a clear improvement in conditions, compared with previous years.

The Norwegian Food Safety Authority says that rinsing strawberries can reduce the amount of bacteria, but that some of the findings made by the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority are unacceptable.

“Stool bacteria, and bacteria from the gut can cause other disease,” says department manager Jan Egil Aronsen in the Norwegian Food Safety Authority in Telemark.

© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today

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