Producers of the organization JabukaHR are the first holders of the label ‘Proven Quality – Croatia’

The producer organization JabukaHR is the first holder of the label 'Proven Quality – Croatia'. This is a national quality system for agricultural and food products established by the Ministry of Agriculture to achieve greater recognition and promotion of domestic agricultural and food products through a single, unique recognizable label. In addition to informing consumers about the added value of products, this system also protects producers from unfair practices.

Minister of Agriculture Marija Vučković announced the certificate of compliance for the awarded label 'Proven Quality – Croatia' to the organization JabukaHR at the Distribution Center for Fruits and Vegetables after the successful completion of the certification process and participated in labeling the first products with this label.

– We are fortunate to have such a strong production, but also the knowledge of production economics that the exemplary producer organization JabukaHR possesses, an organization very dear to us because of everything it represents. I congratulate them on this success. All sectors can join this national system, and I believe it will find fertile ground among producers because the label Proven Quality – Croatia will enable producers to achieve better market placement of value-added products, while guaranteeing consumers a domestic product – said Minister of Agriculture Marija Vučković.

This event was also attended by state secretaries Tugomir Majdak and Zdravko Tušek, as well as the director of the Croatian Agency for Agriculture and Food Darja Sokolić, in the presence of the deputy mayor of Zagreb County Damir Tomljenović, president of the Croatian Fruit Growers Association Branimir Markota, manager of the producer organization JabukaHR Luka Cvitan, and director of the Croatian Accreditation Agency Mirela Zečević. Apple producers Primorac, Križanac, Mihalj, Rukavina, Vrtovi voća, and Lučić also attended.

The manager of the organization JabukaHR Luka Cvitan is satisfied with the achieved results and successful certification as another step in promoting domestic producers. In his address, he especially thanked the producers without whom all this would not have been possible and emphasized that they have long advocated for such a system of highlighting domestic products.

– The label Proven Quality means a lot to us as it represents the crown of this organization’s work, and we are particularly proud to be the first to carry this label. Every fruit and every apple from the producer organization JabukaHR will be recognizable in the market, and we hope to find an even easier way to reach our consumers. Thank you to the Ministry of Agriculture and the Croatian Fruit Growers Association for the excellent initiative and to all the producers gathered in our organization JabukaHR with whom we successfully build quality production. I would also invite all other producers to follow our path, to unite in producer organizations, and ultimately produce quality products with the Proven Quality label – said Cvitan.

The president of the fruit growers Branimir Markota highlighted the challenges faced by fruit growers in the area of storage capacities necessary for the competitiveness of producers and emphasized why the Croatian Fruit Growers Association was the first to request certification with the Proven Quality label:

– This certificate of domestic product called „Proven Quality – Croatia“ raises the value of our product and provides clear information to Croatian consumers who are eager for proven domestic products. Also, fruit growers need to know that to obtain the certificate, the product must undergo a precise and very rigorous check to obtain verification based on European Commission regulations; it is necessary to have appropriate quality, but also an appropriate quantity of products. I must emphasize that I hope we will soon work together in storage-distribution centers, which are another important prerequisite for the development of this sector – concludes Markota.