HEALTH MINISTER: 31 TONS OF PRODUCTS CONTAINING GMO DESTROYED

ZAGREB, April 29 (Hina) - Croatia's Vice Premier and Health Minister Andrija Hebrang has said that 31 tons of various meat products containing more than 0.9 percent of GMO have been destroyed and that another 14 tons are to be destroyed, which makes a total of 45 tons of such products.#L# These products are not on the shelves, Hebrang told reporters in the government building, adding that Croatia should be a GMO-free country. Border sanitary inspections have also banned the import of 3.6 tons of food products which are mostly used as supplements in production and the majority of excessive GMO quantities were discovered in soy and corn elements. Hebrang went on to say that 632 checks had been carried out over the past four months, with 19 specimens containing excessive GMO quantities (0.9 percent). Those were 12 meat products and some bakery products. The percentage of such products was small but the quantities were big, he said. Hebrang would not reveal the brand names nor the identity of the producers in question. Those producers have other products as well and revealing their identity would have far-reaching socio-economic consequences, he said. He recalled that the company whose product was the first to be detected as containing GMO suffered damage, which threatened some 500 jobs. He added that products which were found to contain GMO were not only withdrawn from shops but also destroyed. Hebrang said that the producers were not at fault because they requested import certificates, which proved to be incorrect. The Health Ministry said in a statement that increased control of both imports and domestic products would continue and that the public would be informed of the findings every ten days. The purpose of the campaign is to remove all products containing GMO from the Croatian market in two months' time. (Hina) rml