The Agriculture Ministry announced on Thursday that it is introducing a regulation banning the processing of 1,500 tonnes of wheat from Ukraine that was seized in a mill in Kolarovo, southern Slovakia. The ban on processing this wheat and its inclusion in the food and feed chain comes as a result of the unsatisfactory results of its analysis. The regulation imposes a strict ban on processing and putting on the market already stocked Ukrainian grain and flour made from it. The presence of a pesticide, which is not permitted in the European Union and has a negative impact on human health, has been confirmed in the checked sample. In this situation, the ministry does not recommend the import of any Ukrainian grain or products from it.
The ministry announced that, together with its subordinate organisations, it will ensure that samples are taken from all Ukrainian grain and flour that has already been stocked in Slovakia. At the same time, the State Veterinary and Food Administration will inform all EU member states through the RASFF (the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed) about a batch that fails to meet the health requirements.
"Agriculture Minister Samuel Vlcan will inform Ukrainian Ambassador to Slovakia Myroslav Kastran about the situation, as well as the agriculture ministers of the V4 (the Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary and Slovakia) countries, Romania and Bulgaria at a meeting dedicated to protecting the market against the import of cheap commodities from Ukraine, due to be held on Friday (April 14)," said the ministry.
Source: TASR
