Allowed limit of aflatoxin in milk to decrease in April

Allowed limit of aflatoxin in milk to decrease in April

He specified that the permitted aflatoxin level in milk would be restored in April from 0.5 to 0.05 micrograms per kilogram.

“This has been agreed with the European Commission and it is in keeping with European norms,” Glamočić told reporters in the Serbian Chamber of Commerce where the explanatory screening in Brussels on food safety, veterinary and phytosanitary issues was directly followed.

In 2010, the government adjusted the Book of regulations on the permitted level of aflatoxin in milk to EU standards although it was not obliged to do that, but it turned out that the country was not prepared to implement it consistently.

Glamočić noted that the Food Safety Law would be amended after the early parliamentary elections, after which the national reference laboratory would start operating.

The aflatoxin affair broke out on February 19, 2013, when the milk safety analyses established that most samples contain 0.5 micrograms of the carcinogen per kilogram, while the prescribed maximum level totalled 0.05 micrograms per kilogram.

The increase in aflatoxin level in milk supplied by some producers was caused by the infection of feed corn due to severe drought. On February 28, the Serbian government adopted the amendments to the Book of regulations and restored the permitted level of aflatoxin to 0.5 micrograms per kilogram which had been the prescribed maximum limit two years before.

The then minister of healthcare Goran Knežević stated that this measure was implemented because the institutions in charge of milk safety confirmed that this quantity is not detrimental to human health and it also allows Serbia's milk to be exported to two thirds of the world.

The export of milk, milk-based products and corn dropped in 2013 and Serbia suffered damages worth around EUR 125 million.