Food safety in Croatia is much better than what the media sometimes indicate, but absolute safety cannot be guaranteed, said Andrea Gross Boskovic, head of the Croatian Food Agency.
Euroinspekt Croatiakontrola director Ivo Delonga proposed combining inspections of food of animal and plant origin. "Inspections should take more food control measures, from traceability to safety. If inspectors did that, I'm convinced that we would eat better food and there would be no doubts as to whether food of the same quality is eaten in the Netherlands or Austria."
Croatian Chamber of Agriculture president Matija Brlosic said 97% of Croatian farmers sold first class milk but that the price did not cover even the basic production costs. Fifty thousand domestic dairy farmers have given up production in recent years because of cheap milk imports, he added.
He said "all sorts of things" were being imported in Croatia and that European Union accession had brought Croatian producers in an unequal position.
Croatian Vegetable Farmers Association president Hrvoje Greguric said domestic products were inspected much more than foreign ones and that vegetable imports from Serbia, Bosnia and Macedonia, for instance, were a bigger issue for him than those from the EU.