"Serbia should reduce permitted level of aflatoxin"

BELGRADE If Serbia does not return the maximum permitted level of aflatoxin in milk to 0.05 micrograms per kilogram, it will not fulfill one of the EU conditions. This is according to the Delegation of the EU to Serbia. "Serbia should reduce permitted level of aflatoxin" The Serbian government raised the maximum permitted level of aflatoxin in milk from 0.05 to 0.5 micrograms per kilogram on Thursday. Agriculture Minister Goran Knezevic said that one of the reasons for the increase in the maximum permitted level of aflatoxin was that the regulation was not on the list of binding conditions for the EU accession. However, the EU Delegation to Serbia has denied the information. “Harmonization of Serbian regulations with the European regulations is a part of the EU integration process and before it joins the EU Serbia will have to implement the standards in its legal system and food standards,” representatives of the EU Delegation to Serbia told daily Blic. They noted that milk products with the increased levels of aflatoxin would not meet the standards necessary for export to the EU market. Countries of the region that faced the same problem dealt with the issue differently, the daily writes. “Slovenia had the similar problem with aflatoxins in milk two years ago but it did not occur to anyone to change the regulations by allowing ten times higher concentration of aflatoxin. Aflatoxin is a cancerous substance and it is not something we should joke with,” Breda Jakovac Strajn of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Ljubljana told Blic. She explained that the problem in Slovenia had been solved thanks to increased controls at farms, dairies and cattle fodder factories. “The limit of 0.05 micrograms per kilogram was set based on very serious studies done by all EU member states. The limit is considered the safest precisely because children, elderly and sick people are supposed to drink this milk,” she concluded. (Beta, file) Blic

"Serbia should reduce permitted level of aflatoxin"

The Serbian government raised the maximum permitted level of aflatoxin in milk from 0.05 to 0.5 micrograms per kilogram on Thursday.

Agriculture Minister Goran Knežević said that one of the reasons for the increase in the maximum permitted level of aflatoxin was that the regulation was not on the list of binding conditions for the EU accession. However, the EU Delegation to Serbia has denied the information.

“Harmonization of Serbian regulations with the European regulations is a part of the EU integration process and before it joins the EU Serbia will have to implement the standards in its legal system and food standards,” representatives of the EU Delegation to Serbia told daily Blic.

They noted that milk products with the increased levels of aflatoxin would not meet the standards necessary for export to the EU market.

Countries of the region that faced the same problem dealt with the issue differently, the daily writes.

“Slovenia had the similar problem with aflatoxins in milk two years ago but it did not occur to anyone to change the regulations by allowing ten times higher concentration of aflatoxin. Aflatoxin is a cancerous substance and it is not something we should joke with,” Breda Jakovac Strajn of the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine in Ljubljana told Blic.

She explained that the problem in Slovenia had been solved thanks to increased controls at farms, dairies and cattle fodder factories.

“The limit of 0.05 micrograms per kilogram was set based on very serious studies done by all EU member states. The limit is considered the safest precisely because children, elderly and sick people are supposed to drink this milk,” she concluded.