A meeting was held in the Ministry of Agrarian Policy with Swiss colleagues on the introduction of a control system for food safety

Submitted by bashun on Fri, 06/08/2018 - 11:40

The creation and implementation of a modern food safety monitoring system based on risk assessment in the cycle of production and marketing of dairy products in Ukraine is an important stage for the development of the dairy industry and livestock in general. The results of the cooperation, the main tasks and challenges in the implementation of the project were discussed during the meeting of the Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Olena Kovaleva with experts of the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) Christian Robin and Barbara Eggin, the Milk Safety Project (SAFOSO), representatives of the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection and the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the press service of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy reported.

"The activities of the Swiss-Ukrainian project is an organic component of the systemic process of restoring the livestock sector and ensuring the production of safe milk. On the one hand, we have significant current support for livestock and cooperation from the government. On the other hand, it is important to develop a regulatory framework for bringing the quality requirements of milk to European standards. Also, the project's activities are aimed at providing technical assistance to the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection for ensuring control and creating conditions for improving milk production and its supply to the end user," says Olena Kovaleva.

She added that the effective cooperation of the projects supported by the Swiss side with the producers and the ministry gave noticeable results in the development of the Ukrainian market of organic products and had a significant impact on the establishment of a system for monitoring the safety of milk and dairy products in Ukraine.

Within the framework of the meeting, special attention was paid to the further development of small dairy producers and the improvement of the quality of milk and dairy products. Prospects for further cooperation in support of local dairy production, including through the development of cooperatives, were discussed with a view to providing the population and family farms with the opportunity to process small amounts of milk and sell them at local trade and food establishments.

In addition, during the meeting the results of round tables, exhibitions, meetings of working groups within the framework of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and the Milk Safety Project were discussed.

Also, the work of a pilot program for controlling raw milk in 4 project regions (Vinnytsia, Mykolaiv, Poltava and Kharkiv) was discussed. In case of successful implementation of the project, the monitoring program is planned to be extended to all milk producers and milk procurement stations. To date, a tender for the purchase of laboratory equipment for 4 state laboratories in these areas has already taken place, and next month the equipment will be transferred to laboratories. As of now, the models for the implementation of the pilot program have already been developed, the indicated ways of cooperation between the manufacturer-laboratory-processor- State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection.

As a result of the meeting, an agreement was reached to consider the possibility of further cooperation in the field of organic production, the safety of dairy products and support for small producers of agricultural products, agricultural cooperatives

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