Presentation of the project of improvement of food control – From Farm To Fork

Presentation of the project of improvement of food control – From Farm To Fork

Category: News

The Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection and the EU Delegation in Serbia presented their ITCM project  – “Food safety information system”, funded by the European Union, which aims to improve the IT system in the Veterinary Directorate, Plant Protection Directorate and Agricultural Inspection Sector.

Integrated data management system, designed according to the most advanced standards of IT will allow to strengthen the control of food products of plant and animal origin, including imports from abroad, as well as the alignment of food safety control methodology to the principles used in EU member states. This is another step in meeting the standards of the market to which the products are exported and criteria for Serbia’s EU accession – is the message of today’s meeting.

State Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection Mr Danilo Golubovic said that “People increasingly tend to be fully informed about the origin of food and expect their food to be healthy and of good quality,” he stressed, adding that with this project Serbia is on the path to realize the basic principle of the EU in the field of agriculture – an integrated approach “from farm to fork”, which means control of all production phases: processing, transport, storage and food preparation. Stressing the complexity of the negotiating cchapter 12 concerning food safety, Golubovic said that he expects that Serbia will soon get the comments of the European Commission on the draft report on screening for this chapter, and then the criteria for opening negotiations for this chapter.

Head of Operations III of the EU Delegation to Serbia Richard Masa said that the EU supports the efforts of the Ministry and the Government of the Republic of Serbia in this strategic approach to control food safety and protect the interests of consumers and encourage responsible approach of all stakeholders in the implementation of this complex task.

The social significance of this project is that it allows for faster and easier data collection, analysis and dissemination of information, geographic data connectivity, advanced risk management system and advanced alerting system which aims better control of food safety. The project will use the existing IT solutions in three authorities, upgrading them where required, and develop new IT aplications for data evidence, new web portal for information exchange, aplications for certifacates issued by inspections and other IT solutions that are required for functioning of integrated system.

Upon completion of the presentation of the project, project beneficiaries participated in interactive workshop held by project as support in the process of implementation of the integrated information system.

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EU project “Development of a sustainable information system for the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection” is developing an integrated system for management, communication, and control of food safety, animal health and welfare and plant health in Serbia, in accordance with the legal framework of the EU. The project is implemented by a consortium led by KPMG. The total value of the project, funded by the EU, is EUR 1.345.000. The new information system that will be used by the Veterinary Directorate, Plant Protection Directorate and Agricultural Inspection Sector will be established by the end of 2017.