The Central Association of Dairy Producers of Vojvodina has asked the Serbian government to delay the implementation of the rules on the permitted level of aflatoxin in milk, since a quarter of the milk entering production fails to meet the standard allowing a maximum 0.05 micrograms per kilogram established by the entry into force of a relevant governmental decree.
The producers are cautioning that a problem with grains might occur again this year due to the May flooding and natural disasters and they believe an appropriate control should be carried out first.
Sanja Bugarski, president of the of the association’s board of directors, told Tanjug that small producers were not prepared for the implementation of the new regulations and that, according to the information available to her, a quarter of the milk entering the dairies does not meet the standard of 0.05 micrograms of aflatoxin per kilogram. “It may seem that one quarter is not too much, but it means thousands of households and one million liters of milk,” she said.
Bugarski noted that after the entry into force of the governmental decree on July 1, dairies had begun a more strict control of small producers, while medium family farms and large farms had been under control at all times.
She says that she therefore sees no reason to be in hurry to implement the new rules.
The possibility of aflatoxin concentration in corn increasing this year is great, but milk producers should not bear the responsibility, said Bugarski. “The European Union has taken seven years of adaptation to go from 0.5 to 0.05 micrograms per kilogram of aflatoxin in milk and I cannot see why we are in such a hurry, especially this year,” Bugarski said.
She recalled the fact that three-fourths of the planet drank milk with an aflatoxin concentration of 0.5 micrograms per kilogram without any adverse effects, and Hungary, Italy and Croatia had had problems with aflatoxin at the same time as Serbia, but “nobody made a media circus out of it like our politicians.”
Source in Serbia
