Response to false claims of former chief veterinary inspector: Food in Montenegro is safe

Podgorica, Montenegro (18 June 2017) -- Former chief state veterinary inspector Mirjana Drašković presented a series of untruths in relation to food safety in Montenegro in the TV show “Živa istina,” which was broadcast on Sunday evening.

Since this is a disinformation, Public Relations Service of the Government of Montenegro and Directorate for Foodsafety, Veterinary and Phytosanitary Affairs communicate the following, for reasons of properly informing the public:

The claim of Mrs. Drašković that Montenegro imports chicken that would not pass EU standards is false.

The fact is that Montenegro exclusively imports animal products from Brazil to the EU approved list, i.e. products that are imported by the EU countries and from the facilities granted by the EU. To make it even clearer, Montenegro imports products according to the criteria and origin identical to those that are imported into Germany, France, Denmark etc.

“We do not make any control over genetic modification when it comes to meat. We have not done any control,” the former chief veterinary inspector presented another meaningless claim.

The fact is that no one has ever proved the recombinant DNA from the animal feed. 

Statement of the former chief veterinary inspector that the European Union “does not import much” chicken meat from Brazil is untrue, as well. The fact is that 51.34% of chicken meat was imported from Brazil into the EU. It is about the European Commission’s data that is possible to check on the Internet for a few minutes.

The former chief veterinary inspector even claims the right to question the system of food safety of the European Union presenting serious accusations against EU countries and saying that they are placing allegedly defective imported chicken from Brazil into third countries.

The former chief veterinary inspector’s claim that our legislation is not harmonised with the EU is also untrue. If this were so, how it would be possible to negotiate with the European Commission?

Mrs. Drašković’s claim that the penalties in the field of food safety have been deliberately reduced is a crude insinuation. Penalties that treat food safety have not been reduced for reasons of food safety, but were harmonised with the Law on Misdemeanors.

As the chief veterinary inspector, Mrs. Drašković was obliged to check all doubts, to take samples of any type of food and send it to a reference laboratory to test. However, she did not do it, but she makes public statements with the aim of unfounded and malicious distortion of facts.

The citizens of Montenegro may be complacent when it comes to food safety. Directorate for Foodsafety, Veterinary and Phytosanitary Affairs operates in accordance with the laws which are fully compliant with the European legislation.

PUBLIC RELATIONS SERVICE OF THE GOVERNMENT OF MONTENEGRO

DIRECTORATE FOR FOODSAFETY, VETERINARY AND PHYTOSANITARY AFFAIRS