Import of eggs from Serbia banned

Import of eggs from this country is officially not allowed. Even the Chief Executive Chief of the Food and Veterinary Agency (AUV) confirms this, Valdet Djindovci, who for the Online Economy, said all products coming from a state are not allowed when they do not have the necessary documentation showing the origin of that product already from Serbia said they are not allowed at all.

Djindjic said the good co-operation the AUV has with the Kosovo Police and Dogana has caused these smuggling to be in smaller amounts.

“The import of eggs from Serbia is officially not allowed because we still have no harmonisation of their authorities' certificates, second in terms of food products suspected of smuggling because of the good co-operation we have with the Kosovo Police and Kosovo Customs and AUV is an integrated part of border management is achieved that within a short time all the information coming from products that are confiscated in this form of their annihilation for suspicious products, but that do not have a monitoring document or a companion <1x> said Djindov.

The scandal with broken meat imported from Belgium at the beginning of the year had caused concern to consumers and distrust of animal products in Kosovo, but this phenomenon, according to Djindovci, already does not exist.

The Food and Veterinary Agency has long taken necessary action, have backed up from import, and has long accomplished its annihilation and has not allowed its introduction or import”, Djindovci said.

He said consumers have also become aware and have reported all their concerns about products they are questioning about.

This year's “over as concerns that have been presented by consumers are 164 cases which have been reported and practical action taken on the ground for treatment and have been addressed in full until the end for those concerns in co-operation with MTI”, he said.

According to him, 7,200 inspections were conducted during 2018 and 4650 samples that were tested, while 47 thousand controls were completed in border controls.

He said AUV has extensions even in northern Kosovo, where inspectors also inspect farms in that part.

“AUV has inspectors stationed at the border points in the northern part as well, the AUV headquarters implements and monitors the inspection of farms in the northern part of the country, whether in the Leposaviq municipality, Zubin Potok and other locations in the northern part, and there are also AUV inspectors who make approval of business operators who approve of food in the northern part, the important thing is that all farms that are on the farmers in that part are and monitored”, he said.

Djindovci said that in 2019 he hopes the organic waste processing factory will be functional, which will have a positive impact on environmental protection and the removal of stray dogs.

“We are in finalisation of the construction process of the organic waste processing plant, after the war Kosovo is the first country in the part of the Western Balkans to have benefited in a factory of such kind for construction funded by the European Commission with co-finance from the country's government, and I hope that next year the factory as such will be activated”, he said.

Djindovci indicated that for now animal remains are dumped in garbage dumps, where there is a large presence of stray dogs.

For now, all food products that are eliminated or that don't meet the safety criteria are destroyed in the garbage dumps that have high presence, stray dogs, rodents and other living things that are in some form even concerned the inhabitants of surrounding areas, but also for the citizens of the country and all of us”

Djindovci said that Kosovo is lucky that the EU is funding in such a factory and its location is in front of the industrial park at “The King's Kroni”, which extends to central Kosovo that is suitable for access from all countries and European standards.

Kosovo does not have free status of animal diseases, always beginning with what the period in which farming has passed in our country is a great destiny that through the EC projects is working in this direction that Kosovo will have free status in the near future, and we hope that it will also be realised in a time of its fulfillment and at the end we will also be able to export the product of animal origin<1>, he said.

Djindjic said that even the 100% tax on Serbia and Bosnia has positively affected local production, while as the leading industry in Kosovo remains milk.