The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management has ordered inspection services to execute additional inspection of all fruit and vegetable importers in Serbia with the goal of „eliminating even the smallest irregularities regarding the labeling of products imported into Serbia“.
According to the press release, the Ministry’s goal is also to prevent any attempt at jeopardizing public health and citizens getting overly concerned about the health safety of agricultural products sold in the Serbian market.
“The most important issue is the health of the food in our country, and therefore we would like to underline once again that before a company is granted import of certain produce, detailed laboratory analysis are carried out, which in the case the labeling the tomatoes from Turkey have shown that tomatoes were completely safe to consume“, the Ministry noted
A few days ago, the media reported that the tomatoes, that were imported to Serbia from Turkey, were unfit for consumption because their label read that „the peel was not for human consumption“.
The Ministry confirms that the tomatoes imported into Serbia from Turkey are safe for human consumption, as the relevant lab analyses have shown.
Following the inspection of the importer’s premises, it was ascertained that the tomatoes were labelled wrongly and that it was all a technical error. The Ministry claims that the importer used the labels that are usually used for citrus fruits (lemons oranges).
Nevertheless, ascertaining who is responsible for wrong labeling is the subject matter of the line ministries which, in accordance with their competences, have launched proceedings against those responsible for this mistake.
“In regard to the chain of responsibility, all entities that are party of the chain will be severely penalized“, the Ministry of Agriculture noted.
(RTV, 11.04.2018)
http://www.rtv.rs/sr_lat/drustvo/vanredna-kontrola-svih-uvoznika-voca-i-povrca-u-srbiji_908642.html