The Croatian Chamber of Agriculture has requested a review of the decision to ban the sale of traditional dairy products at open market stalls as before, which will be implemented from Monday, as they believe that ‘the application of parts of regulations that are not aligned with EU legislation’ leads to the destruction of Croatian specialties.
According to the decision of the Sanitary Inspection, cheese and cream can only be sold in closed and refrigerated displays, at a temperature between four and eight degrees, according to the food hygiene regulations. In a statement signed by the Chamber’s secretary, Damjan Bogdanović, it is requested that the decision be reconsidered at an inter-institutional meeting, as cheese and cream are traditionally sold in outdoor conditions, and they believe that the introduction of new temperature standards, as required by the Sanitary Inspection, would cause the product to lose its characteristic as a traditional product.
The Chamber notes that EU Commission Decision No. 509/2006 exempts traditional products from food standards unless a health hazard is proven. ‘If in 130 years of tradition no incident regarding food safety has been recorded, a scientific risk assessment study must be conducted to justify the existence of a threat of infection for the stated reasoning to be acceptable,’ emphasizes the statement from the Croatian Chamber of Agriculture. They believe that such actions cause irreparable damage to family farms and the Croatian economy while providing a small service to large capital.
