According to the Rulebook on coffee, which was recently adopted, the bags of this beverage must not be labeled "coffee" if there are additives such as chicory, peas or some grains. The Consumers' Association believes that it is necessary and urgent to adopt the same regulation for ice cream.
Petar Bogosavljević, the president of this Association, says "it is important to follow the rules in production, to use quality foods and raw materials and not to use potentially harmful additives and other components that can be dangerous."
He recalls that "Serbia previously had stricter requirements than the EU when it comes to the number of microorganisms in ice cream" and says that "we lowered our criteria and accepted the European ones" because "part of the business sector profits by lowering the quality level, since a high level of quality increases production costs."
According to Bogosavljević, the Consumers' Association has not been conducting comparative testing and evaluation of food quality for years, so it no longer has its own control of ice cream from industrial plants and artisanal production.
"Since that information exposes the true situation, that program has been stopped by part of the business sector and government structures." The interests are much stronger than the needs of those who are not in a position to make decisions from the point of view of financing," says Bogosavljević.
Last year, Serbia produced 33.818 tons of ice cream. A year before that, we sold 22.230 tons of ice cream abroad. According to data from the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, the growth of both production and export of ice cream has been ongoing since 2018.
We export ice cream mostly to Bulgaria, and then to Greece, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina and other countries in the region, but also to the United Kingdom, Poland, Germany and Spain.
We also import it, since 2016, the import is constantly increasing. For example, in 2020, we imported 7.900 tons of ice cream, mostly from Germany, Belgium, Poland and Croatia.
Three companies produce ice cream in Serbia, and they employ around 2000 workers. Currently, there are about a hundred small craft producers.
S.Ć./Euronews
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