“DS wants to use aflatoxin scare to topple government”

BELGRADE Agriculture Minister Goran Knezevic say the opposition Democratic Party (DS) is trying to use the suspicion of contaminated milk to topple the government. He told Beta news agency that “there has been no confusion in analyses on traces of aflatoxin in milk” and stressed that the scandal represented “the Democrats’ wish to try to destabilize and topple the Serbian government through the provincial administration”. “DS wants to use aflatoxin scare to topple government” “They hit the most sensitive thing, the population’s health. Look at those pathetic sentences (of Provincial Agriculture Secretary Goran Jesic) that he will not let his children drink milk. I have four children too and now I am a monster who gives his children milk and he won’t,” Knezevic noted. He stressed that the entire food safety system had been planned and mounted by the DS, adding that around EUR 15mn had been spent on the National Reference Laboratory since 2003 but that the lab still had not been open. “In the past six months, since I have been a minister, we have not had time to dismantle the system for numerous reasons,” the minister said and noted that piled up debts, disastrous drought and a systemic law on help to agriculture production halted the process. Knezevic said he would not rule out a possibility that monopolists were responsible for releasing information that aflatoxin was present in milk. “I cannot believe that this came from one center,” he said and added that it could be a matter of interest, “Maybe it is not a coincidence that the Becej-based accredited lab (that performed aflatoxin analyses for the Vojvodina Agriculture Secretariat), is owned by Viktoria Group. They have been monopolists for many years and they affect the cattle feed market in a certain way. Maybe this is a reason for all this,” the minister said. He reiterated that “milk in the Serbian market is safe to use and that the health of the people is not in danger”. Knezevic noted that the Agriculture Ministry had not released the names of dairies and milk products that had been removed from stores on suspicion that they contained high levels of aflatoxin “because it would be unfair to producers because it still has not been proven that the milk is contaminated”. “It would be unfair to producers to affect their business policies and to prevent them from doing their job,” he said. Knezevic said that results of a superanalysis of suspicious samples that had been sent to the Netherlands could be expected in several days but he did not say how many samples had been sent for additional testing. He explained that once the test results were back, milk from certain dairies would be permanently removed from the stores, producers would be fined or milk would be returned to the stores if traces of aflatoxin were below legal limits. According to the minister, the cause of the increased levels of aflatoxin in milk could be cattle food, i.e. contaminated corn. He said that the state had taken all necessary measures last fall to test as many corn samples as possible in order to determine what percentage was contaminated with aflatoxin. “The inspection determined that it was six percent of corn and removed four samples out of 197 and ordered that they be destroyed,” the agriculture minister said. He noted that an emergency control had been conducted to determine the source of aflatoxin after high levels of the toxin had been discovered in milk in the region. “We conducted control of public warehouses in which the state keeps its corn reserves and there is no aflatoxin there,” Knezevic said and announced that the corn from state reserves would be distributed to farms and dairies in order to change the cattle’s diet so they could produce healthy milk within four days. He stressed that traces of aflatoxin had not been found in imported corn so far. The minister pointed out that extraordinary inspections were underway and that the veterinary inspection had stepped up sampling of milk products, meat and eggs. Knezevic announced that two milk reference laboratories would be founded next year that would, aside from milk safety, also inspect its quality so producers could get higher premiums for high-quality milk. DS MPs earlier today called on the minister to resign due to his poor reaction to increased levels of aflatoxin in milk in Serbia. The Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) on the other hand called on Jesic resign if it turned out that the results he had presented were incorrect. The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) has asked the Agriculture Ministry and all other state organs to tell citizens if consumption of milk and other dairy products represented a health risk. The SNS asked the competent bodies how they could allow “ward heeler” Jesic to “destroy Serbian farmers and country’s milk production in just one day” by using data he had received from Viktoria Group owned by Milija Babovic, especially if it turned out that consequences of milk consumption were not dramatic. Goran Knezevic (Tanjug, file) Beta

“DS wants to use aflatoxin scare to topple government”

“They hit the most sensitive thing, the population’s health. Look at those pathetic sentences (of Provincial Agriculture Secretary Goran Ješić) that he will not let his children drink milk. I have four children too and now I am a monster who gives his children milk and he won’t,” Knežević noted.

He stressed that the entire food safety system had been planned and mounted by the DS, adding that around EUR 15mn had been spent on the National Reference Laboratory since 2003 but that the lab still had not been open.

“In the past six months, since I have been a minister, we have not had time to dismantle the system for numerous reasons,” the minister said and noted that piled up debts, disastrous drought and a systemic law on help to agriculture production halted the process.

Knežević said he would not rule out a possibility that monopolists were responsible for releasing information that aflatoxin was present in milk.

“I cannot believe that this came from one center,” he said and added that it could be a matter of interest,

“Maybe it is not a coincidence that the Bečej-based accredited lab (that performed aflatoxin analyses for the Vojvodina Agriculture Secretariat), is owned by Viktoria Group. They have been monopolists for many years and they affect the cattle feed market in a certain way. Maybe this is a reason for all this,” the minister said.

He reiterated that “milk in the Serbian market is safe to use and that the health of the people is not in danger”.

Knežević noted that the Agriculture Ministry had not released the names of dairies and milk products that had been removed from stores on suspicion that they contained high levels of aflatoxin “because it would be unfair to producers because it still has not been proven that the milk is contaminated”.

“It would be unfair to producers to affect their business policies and to prevent them from doing their job,” he said.

Knežević said that results of a superanalysis of suspicious samples that had been sent to the Netherlands could be expected in several days but he did not say how many samples had been sent for additional testing.

He explained that once the test results were back, milk from certain dairies would be permanently removed from the stores, producers would be fined or milk would be returned to the stores if traces of aflatoxin were below legal limits.

According to the minister, the cause of the increased levels of aflatoxin in milk could be cattle food, i.e. contaminated corn.

He said that the state had taken all necessary measures last fall to test as many corn samples as possible in order to determine what percentage was contaminated with aflatoxin.

“The inspection determined that it was six percent of corn and removed four samples out of 197 and ordered that they be destroyed,” the agriculture minister said.

He noted that an emergency control had been conducted to determine the source of aflatoxin after high levels of the toxin had been discovered in milk in the region.

“We conducted control of public warehouses in which the state keeps its corn reserves and there is no aflatoxin there,” Knežević said and announced that the corn from state reserves would be distributed to farms and dairies in order to change the cattle’s diet so they could produce healthy milk within four days.

He stressed that traces of aflatoxin had not been found in imported corn so far.

The minister pointed out that extraordinary inspections were underway and that the veterinary inspection had stepped up sampling of milk products, meat and eggs.

Knežević announced that two milk reference laboratories would be founded next year that would, aside from milk safety, also inspect its quality so producers could get higher premiums for high-quality milk.

DS MPs earlier today called on the minister to resign due to his poor reaction to increased levels of aflatoxin in milk in Serbia. The Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS) on the other hand called on Ješić resign if it turned out that the results he had presented were incorrect.

The Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) has asked the Agriculture Ministry and all other state organs to tell citizens if consumption of milk and other dairy products represented a health risk.

The SNS asked the competent bodies how they could allow “ward heeler” Ješić to “destroy Serbian farmers and country’s milk production in just one day” by using data he had received from Viktoria Group owned by Milija Babović, especially if it turned out that consequences of milk consumption were not dramatic.