New declarations for imported meat

Talking about the announcements of strict controls of imported meat, which amounted to over 50,000 tons in Serbia last year, the minister of agriculture, forestry and water management, Dragon Glamocic, said that, for all foodstuffs of animal origin, the origin had to be known, which countries the shipment had gone through, where it would be stored and how it would be used.

– There have been errors in that segment, and until recently, in the region, we had hoof-and-mouth disease, due to which additional activities toward establishing order had to be taken – he said for RTS.

The minister also adds that the future rulebook will have to determine the size of the sign related to the information about how old the meat is.

– We will not forbid consuming meat from abroad by doing so. The only area where we are week in agriculture is pig farming and we have to import pig meat. Other than that, we import frozen meat for processing, and the situation with fresh meat is good. When meat is imported, it is seven to ten days old. This will all have to be displayed. The consumer chooses whether to buy meat that is one or two days old at a higher price, or imported meat which is a week old or more, and we will ask for all this to be declared – says Glamocic.

The minister also adds that the export of local agricultural products is ten percent higher compared to last year.

– If we compare the first three months of this year with the first three months of last year, the export is 11 percent higher. The tempo is good, last year, we had a surplus of EUR 1.2 billion in the difference between exports and imports. Unfortunately, we still mostly export grains and fruit, but the plan is to step up the export of manufacturing industry products, that is, to sell products with added value – said Glamocic.

Ministarstvo poljoprivrede, šumarstva i vodoprivrede Republike Srbije

Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Water Management

Dragan Glamočić

meat

import of meat