Meat and meat products on the Montenegrin market are completely inspected and citizens can buy them without fear, the assistant director of the Administration for Food Safety, Biljana Blecic, told Pobjeda newspaper. She reacted to the chief veterinary inspector Mirjana Draskovic’s statement that the new food safety law could result in having non-quality meat on our market.
Fines
According to the new laws, fines for violations in this field have been reduced from €5,000 to €500 for legal and from €500 to €30 for responsible persons in the company. Blecic does not see that controversial because, as she pointed out, the food safety and fee amount cannot be related.
“The interpretation coming from the official who is most responsible for law enforcement and supervision of all veterinary inspectors is at least worrying. The law is not applied only through fines, leaving potentially risky products in the facility. When it comes to food, it is necessary to promptly and efficiently take all the prescribed administrative measures that will prevent unsafe food or any inappropriate activities in food business from endangering health,” said Blecic.
She explained that the new legal norms resulted from aligning with the Law on Misdemeanours, and that the intention was not to reduce or increase the fees.
She added that an inspector shall always and without delay put out of trade any food the safety of which he/she doubted and to destroy it, in addition to imposing a fine. If necessary, he/she shall initiate the misdemeanour or criminal proceedings, depending on the severity of the irregularities.
Blecic said that the new provisions stipulate that, if irregularities are found twice in operations of the same entity (ie placing food that can harm the health on the market), then the entity shall be prohibited from performing its business activities for up to six months. In case of registering highly illegal substances that are scientifically proven to endanger human health, the law stipulates prison sentences and permanent prohibition of operations.
Meat from Brazil
Commenting on the allegations that meat from Brazil was not safe, Blecic said that this year four consignments of poultry meat had been imported from Brazil, ie from entities who were allowed to export to the EU.
“All imported consignments are subjected to an additional laboratory tests on all of the potential illicit substances in accordance with the regulations (microbiological and chemical safety, including the residues of certain pharmacological substances and other harmful substances), which means that the meat which has been available to consumers is safe,” she says.
