Croatian Agriculture Minister Tihomir Jakovina has rejected media reports about negative findings of teams of the Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance who visited Croatia's food processing companies which would like to export meat, milk and other food products to the Russian market.
The visits were conducted in March, and according to the media reports, the findings of the confidential report, complied by the Russian authorities in April, claim that "a competent control of meeting general sanitary conditions is lacking" in those companies.
Confirming the visit by the Russian federal veterinary and phytosanitary service, the Croatian minister said on Friday that 12 Croatian companies expressed wish to enter the Russian market.
"Those are 12 eminent food producers that have adjusted all their standards to the EU standards," Minister Jakovina said explaining that standards and norms in place in the Russian Federation are a bit different than those in the EU and the inspection of the Russian team was conducted for that reason.
Dismissing media reports on this topic as sensationalistic, the minister recalls that 55 companies have been given the green light to enter the European market.
Some companies have been told to correct some deficits and after that they will also be given the green light to go on the EU market, Jakovina said adding that the Croatians consume high-quality food products that are already on the EU market which he hopes will soon also enter the Russian market.
Croatian inspectors have conducted another control and informed their Russian counterparts that there is no reason for negative reporting on something that is good, the minister said.
