PULA, Oct 25 - A connoisseur of rare and expansive mushroom that grows underground, truffles, will have to pay the fine of DM30,000 because he had a store of 887 kilograms of frozen and seven kilograms of fresh truffles in his house!
Giancarlo Zigante, 49, from Istria's town of Buje, did not have a permit of the Administration for the Environment Protection, so he was not able to prove to a magistrate that he legally possessed the truffles.
PULA, Oct 25 - A connoisseur of rare and expansive mushroom that
grows underground, truffles, will have to pay the fine of DM30,000
because he had a store of 887 kilograms of frozen and seven
kilograms of fresh truffles in his house!
Giancarlo Zigante, 49, from Istria's town of Buje, did not have a
permit of the Administration for the Environment Protection, so he
was not able to prove to a magistrate that he legally possessed the
truffles.#L#
Police confiscated all the found amount of truffles in Zigante's
house on September 30.
Zigante claims he has been collecting truffles since 1971, adding
that every year he was receiving necessary permit as a
concessionaire of natural resource. Zigante said he had done the
same this year, however, the court did not accept his arguments. The
magistrate opted to take results of an investigation conducted by
an inspector for the environment protection, reading that Zigante
had caused damage by collecting illegally this excessive amount of
truffles, which was, naturally, against the Regulation on the
Fungus Protection.
According to the Regulation, one can collect up to 7.5 kilograms of
truffles in the period of two weeks.
The court adopted results of an investigation conducted by an
agricultural expert reading that it was health threatening and
illegal to keep any food item in the refrigerator for 28 years.
Zigante has the right to appeal against the Court decision within
eight days.
(hina) ms jn