Romanian Meat Association: Romanians to grill over 30 million mititei on May 1 break

Romanians will grill more than 30 million mititei, a traditional Romanian dish of grilled ground meat rolls made from a mixture of beef, lamb and pork , on the May 1 break, exceeding the amount consumed last year by about 10-15 percent, according to estimates of meat processors. 

"From talks with small processors, we estimate that on the May 1 break the 30-million-mititei mark will be exceeded, which is an increase by 10-15 percent from last year. The time before the May 1 break sees an increase in the production of mititei from 15 percent to 30 percent over a normal period. Of course, the variations depend on the orders received and the storage capacity. I have to tell you that already last week there were instances in which some retailers ran out of mititei to sell. Mititeii of a pork and beef mixture are still the Romanians' favourites and also the best sellers," Executive Director of the Romanian Meat Association (ARC) Dana Tanase has told AGERPRES.

She added that some of the traditional Romanian mititei are bound for exportation, especially to countries where there are Romanian communities. "This time, mititeii reach Italy, Spain and the UK, to Romanians working in these countries at a percentage similar to last year's, namely 5-10 percent," Tanase said. 
As early as last year, ARC started the procedures for obtaining European protection for five meat products, including the Romanian mititei, but the action is difficult because of documents that are "hard to trace" and that are needed to certify the product's traditional trait. 

"At the end of 2017, ARC decided to initiate the registration procedure with European quality schemes - certified traditional for a total of five products. We are now at the stage of finalising the indications for parizer de vaca (beef bologna) and muschi tiganesc (gypsy pork loin). The seemingly simple procedure has been hampered by the fact that a number of documents evidencing their being traditional products are hard to find, given that the archives of the Meat Industry Centre no longer exist. Registering mititeii with one of the European quality schemes is part of ARC projects, "said Tanase. 

As far as the prices for meat and meat products are concerned, the ARC representative does not exclude other price increases in the period ahead, after an increase earlier this year due to increases in the price of diesel fuel, gas and electricity. 

"After the mark-up earlier this year due to the rise in the price for diesel fuel, gas and electricity, plus the depreciation of the national currency, no further price increases are excluded for the remainder of this year. The industry needs meat for processing, which does not can be ensured from domestic production, and the exchange rate of the national currency is very unstable, and the industry is very sensitive to any other changes that may occur during the year," added Tanase. 

According to statistics, between 20,000 and 25,000 tonnes a year are consumed in Romania, which means that about 440 million mititei reaches the Romanians' tables each year.