Over the past two weeks since aflatoxins were identified, the system has dealt well with the problem and now a new problem has arisen with some dairy producers cancelling contracts to purchase milk from some farmers based on inspections they conducted but without informing the Ministry which farms and how many were involved, Minister Jakovina told reporters.

Today we contacted several producers who urged us to conduct additional checks on milk and fodder, Jakovina said, adding that the ministry would urgently attend to this in an effort to locate the problem and undertake further measures.

Questioned whether dairy producers Dukat, Vindija and Meggle had unjustifiably suspended milk purchases from certain farmers, Jakovina said that he did not wish to speculate.

I would have hoped that representatives from the dairy industry had informed us of their intentions and presented the results of their inspections so that additional urgent checks could be organised and for us to jointly tackle this problem so that milk produced is healthy, he said.

He added that this was not a problem that could not be solved and was not isolated to just Croatia as other neighbouring countries and even some EU countries were experiencing similar problems .

The problem can be solved quickly by changing fodder but in this crisis situation it is necessary for everyone in the chain to work together, he said appealing to producers and above all the dairy industry to do their bit and assured that the government would do its share.

He reported that commodity stock maize had been tested and was safe.

Assistant Agriculture Minister Mirjana Matausic-Pisl said that 11 samples had been sent to Vienna for analysis and 10 had proven positive and that the contaminated farms had been issued a ban on selling their milk until the level of aflatoxins had been reduced to an acceptable level.

Imported milk too was tested with 92 samples taken and in 56 samples tested only four were found to be positive and further delivery of these were halted, she said.

Fodder tested from 31 farms proved to be positive in 13 cases.

Encouraging news comes from one farm which has shown to be positive but in the meantime has changed its fodder and a new test has shown that the level of aflatoxins has been reduced to an acceptable level, said Matausic-Pisl.

Earlier in the day the Varazdin based Vindija dairy industry stated that following a veterinary inspection the dairy has stopped buying milk from only five risky farms. Company reps said that in line with the company policy of healthy food from the field to the table, the company owned its own fodder producing plants which they distributed to their sub-contractors and that they conducted constant quality controls.

Another dairy producer Meggle reported that the dairy would only purchase milk from farms that had been tested for aflatoxins. "We are aware that this will be a painful step, a quick and sustainable solution is only possible with joint cooperation between milk producers and the dairy industry", a press release from the company said.