In the summer season, when temperatures are high, the health of citizens is also linked to the food they consume, especially meat products.
There are many cases where citizens encounter low-quality and expired products, both in stores and in gastronomy.
In these hot days, the Food and Veterinary Agency says that they are focusing on market control, especially of meat products, but the AUVA has not provided statistics on the amount of food products destroyed during the period January-May of this year.
According to the AUV media officer, Lamir Thaçi, the products on the market are safe since, according to him, they have been checked and researched at border points in the country, KosovaPress reports.
But, according to Thaçi, during 2024 alone, 70 official controls were carried out by the AUV, of which 950 kilograms of food products of plant origin, 104 kg of products of animal origin, 191 kg of meat products and 522 kg of fish products were destroyed.
Thaçi, in a statement to KosovaPress, emphasizes that all cargoes imported into the Republic of Kosovo are initially subject to official control by FVA inspectors.
“All cargoes imported into the Republic of Kosovo are initially subject to official control by AUVA inspectors and only when they are in accordance with the law are they allowed to be cleared and enter the domestic market…Currently, the products on the market are safe, because at any moment, when there may be any doubt about them, it is always decided to remove them from the market, to be researched, and from the final results that are derived from the research, it is then decided on the authenticity of the product,” said Thaçi.
A month ago, Kosovo decided to temporarily ban chicken and other poultry products from Brazil.
The measure was taken after Brazil confirmed an outbreak of bird flu on a farm, while saying it was investigating other suspected cases.
Even the European Union, the world’s largest poultry exporter and the main exporter of poultry meat to the EU, has banned it from sending poultry products and meat to the bloc’s countries.
Thaçi emphasizes that this measure is still in force.
“From the first day that the announcement was made that there were outbreaks of avian influenza in the state of Brazil in several regions, on that same day Kosovo, in line with the European Union, imposed a temporary ban on all shipments from this state and the measure is still in force and we are strictly controlling each identified shipment…”, he said.
Kosovo, during the period January-April of this year alone, imported chicken products from Brazil worth 13.7 million euros, out of a total of 34.7 million euros, which is the total value of imports of these products from all countries during this period.
According to Kosovo Customs data, the country imported chicken products worth 2024 million euros from international markets during 91.8 – while chicken meat worth 30.6 million euros from Brazil alone.
Meanwhile, Kosovo citizens appear to be heavy consumers of meat products. If one looks at the official figures from Kosovo Customs, one might get the impression that citizens only eat meat.
Within 2024 alone, Kosovo has imported 52 million and 916 thousand kilograms of meat of all types from different countries around the world, KosovaPress reports.
According to the official data of Kosovo Customs, the value of meat import for 2024 was over 117 million euros.
Customs lists meat as the 12th most imported product throughout the year.
Compared to 2023, the quantity of meat product imports in 2024 has not changed much, but its value has. The value of meat imports in 10 is more than 2024 million euros higher compared to 2023. This increase seems to be a result of inflation from the countries of origin. /KP/