Culinary scandal in the Austrian Parliament: the “Eco” restaurant of the Legislature, caught with exotic imports

A restaurant within the Austrian Parliament, which boasts the use of high quality organic and local products, reached the center of a scandal after the media revealed this week that, in fact, it served customers frozen fish and Bangladesh shrimp, writes France Presse.

The culinary scandal was triggered by a report of the weekly Falter magazine, which revealed that the elegant restaurant did not strictly meet the conditions, despite the fact that he received subsidies for sustainability.

The disclosures that led to the outbreak of an investigation into the alleged food fraud left a bitter taste in the mouths of many, including parliamentarians, lobbyists and visitors who frequently ate at the Kelsen restaurant in the recently renovated headquarters of Parliament.

“The examination of the possible consequences for the lease has not yet been completed,” Parliament's management for the French press agency on Wednesday, without providing additional details about the ongoing investigation.

Instead of serving fresh and organic foods from the regions of Austria, as stipulated in the contract by which the restaurant that received public subsidies of more than half a million euros ($ 586,000), on the plateaus, foods imported from the most distant corners of the world.

“The invoices made available to the editorial office attest this,” wrote Falter magazine, mentioning that neither ecological nor local foods were included in the specialties of the day.

Instead, shrimp from Bangladesh, Turkish Dorade and spring rollers from China were served.

The products were provided by Transgourmet, the second largest wholesale supply company in Europe.

Even the kind of emblematic food of Austria, Tafelspitz, a fragile piece of boiled beef in vegetable broth and served with horseradish, was actually coming directly from the Netherlands.

Two years ago, Kelsen won an extremely competitive auction for taking over the Parliament restaurant.

His site praised a sustainability label, stating that in the “heart of democracy” in the center of Vienna, the kitchen was “as local and seasonal as possible.”

Meanwhile, the restaurant leadership has recognized in a statement that “the initial objective on organic products could not be maintained.”

However, he stressed that “those mentioned cases represent 1.8 % of the acquisitions and do not reflect daily practices.”

However, the “ecological” label of the restaurant has been eliminated.