Aflatoxin alarm in milk

This was the declaration of the National Food Authority based on the suspicions of the Kosovo homologue institution, which raised the alarm.

While there is no specific answer regarding the allowed norms, the Minister of Agriculture, Genc Ruli, declared that the Aflatoxin is just dishonest competition.

“The Aflatoxin issue was not for protecting the consumer, but as a dishonest competition. Our political and professional duty is to protect ourselves from such blows, not only our modern milk industry. More importantly, we need to protect the interests of 20.000 Albanian farmers”, Ruli declared.

The Minister defended the involvement of the National Food Authority, saying that the reaction of Albanian authorities was correct, because the Albanian side did not make defend our product unilaterally.

The Foreign Minister, Edmond Panariti, declared that the alarm of the Kosovo authorities is speculative and an artificial obstacle for the free exchange of goods.

“Together with the Foreign Minister of Kosovo we will sign a protocol of economic cooperation. Our goal is to create bigger spaces of a common market, where we can circulate our goods freely and without artificial obstacles”, Panariti declared.

Kosovo, no step back

The analysis of one Albanian milk brand was ordered by Kosovo in an internationally certified lab, and resulted with levels of Aflatoxin that are higher than the EU standards.

This is how this institution responded to the accusations launched by the Tirana authorities, who accused them of favouring dishonest competition.

But even this time the Kosovo authorities did not give the exact result, saying that they are waiting for the full list of analysis to publish them all in one time.

As regards milk that is produced in Kosovo, the agency has not sent the samples in the international lab because the analyses made in Kosovo show that the level is within the EU standards.

The Kosovo officials refused to comment the declarations of the Albanian Ministries (Foreign and Agriculture), because the Kosovo Food and Veterinary Institution is monitored by the Prime Minister’s office, and not the Ministry of Agriculture.

Top Channel was unable to understand if the decision of the Kosovo authorities was taken with the consultations of the monitoring authorities, because the Deputy Prime Minister has resigned due to problems with justice, together with his staff.

Top Channel contacted the Kosovo Agriculture Minister, but he refused to comment on an issue that is not under his competences.

However, other sources have explained that the Agriculture Ministers of both countries have discussed the matter and there will be a meeting this Monday.

How it started

On February 22nd, the Kosovo authorities announced that some brands of milk coming from Albania had levels of Aflatoxin that are higher than the EU standards.

Right after this news, the Albanian Ministry declared that the tests in Kosovo were still under process. But the Kosovo authorities released a statement that the values were higher than the EU standards.

However, the Kosovo authorities never published the exact value. The Albanian authorities sent samples in Brescia, Italy, and blocked some of the brands in the market.

This decision was followed by consequences among the milk producers in Albania, who said that all of this was based on dishonest competition.

The Albanian Ministry of Agriculture tried to calm the public by saying that the Aflatoxin are higher than the EU standards, but not higher than in other countries, especially in the entire Balkan region, including Kosovo.
 

Top Channel