Kosovo records decrease in food poisoning cases this year
Express newspaper
19/09/2025 8:09
Kosovo is marking a decline in food poisoning cases this year. The Chief Inspector of the Kosovo Sanitary Inspectorate, Ibrahim Tërshnjaku, in a written interview for the rtv21.tv portal regarding this issue, said that Kosovo is doing well in terms of food safety for sanitary reasons.
Referring to statistics, Tërshnjaku emphasized that in 2023 there were the most cases of food poisoning with 17 such cases, in 2024 with 10 cases, while this year so far 8 cases of poisoning have been recorded.
Regarding food safety in fast food restaurants in Kosovo, he said that the implementation of legal measures and court decisions have influenced these restaurants to increase their level of hygiene.
“Due to the increase in food safety in these entities, we have increased the frequency of inspections, the implementation of legal measures, as well as the decisions of the Courts in favor of requests for violations by the Sanitary Inspectorate, have influenced the entities to increase the level of hygiene, the implementation of good work practices and good hygiene practices to prevent cases of food poisoning,” he told the rtv21 portal.
Asked how much impact the sanitary inspectors’ inspections have had on these establishments, he said that there is increased care from fast food operators regarding food quality.
“The frequency of control has an effective impact on food safety by making it possible to trace suspicious cases and the implementation of legislation effectively improves the level and keeps gastronomy entities under control, influencing the awareness of workers who prepare and serve safe and hygienic food in those entities, this affects that hygienic and sanitary conditions are continuously maintained in all stages of processing and up to serving the final consumer. Fast food entities have created good working conditions, adequate equipment for handling safe food, they implement good hygiene practices because the inspections carried out by the Sanitary Inspectorate and the legal measures taken have raised the level of care for entities that operate with food”, said Tërshnjaku.
Tershnjaku said that in all cases of poisoning, fast food establishments have been temporarily closed and fines have been imposed by the Court.
Finally, he said that Kosovo, compared to countries in the region, has a lower number of food poisoning cases.