THOROUGH inspections are being made on meat and dairy products in Cyprus to ensure that they meet with EU health and safety regulations, according to the director of the Veterinary Services, Fidias Loukaides.
He told the Cyprus Mail yesterday that all meat produced and packaged in Cyprus was checked by Veterinary Services officials before going onto the market. “So far, we have encountered few problems,” said Loukaides, but added that various slaughterhouses had to be closed down, as they did not meet with EU standards.
“Slaughter houses had until May 1 to conform to EU standards and those who did not were shut down. Apart from that, there have been no problems with meat products sold at supermarkets, and consumers are in no danger whatsoever,” said Loukaides.
Regarding dairy products, Sophoclis Anthousis from the Health Services at the Ministry said yesterday that checks had already been put into place and that no problems had been encountered in the past two weeks.
“The procedure of inspection is as follows,” Anthousis said. “First, our officials check the product by visiting the supermarket and making sure the packaged dairy products have the correct stamping.”
These include the name of the product, the name and address of the company, the weight and ingredients, as well as production and expiry date of the product.
Anthousis added they also conducted microbiological tests on the products to test for the ingredients and contents to ensure they were safe and within EU recommended standards.
“In our experience, we have seen that all dairy products available to consumers are in line with EU directives. There are no dangerous dairy products on the market and there is no need for consumers to worry,” said Anthousis.
He stressed that the main concern of the Health Services was to ensure the quality of the product was up to EU standards.
“The quality of all products has been excellent, but there have been some oversights by companies when it comes to the stamping of the products. For example, some labels on some products were not accurate or did not contain the right information.
“This, however, does not mean the excellence of the product is not up to standard, but stamping is equally important when it comes to meeting EU regulations,” said Anthousis.
He revealed there had been a few problems with some small private dairy companies whose products were not made in line with EU standards. “For example, there was an incident where some halloumi was made without using the guidelines of EU health and safety regulations,” said Anthousis.
Regardless of the minor hiccups, Consumers’ Association President Petros Markou expressed his utmost satisfaction at the government’s efforts to follow EU regulations.
“Every month, the government sends us a return report known as market surveillance activities, informing us of their inspections on products and I am extremely satisfied with them for implementing the acquis communautaire,” said Markou.
He added that it was the government’s responsibility to carry out health and safety checks on products for the protection of consumers.
“We as the Consumers Association fully support the government in their efforts and ask them to continue conducting these inspections on a regular basis in order for the acquis communautaire to be fully implemented,” said Markou.
He told the Cyprus Mail he could not be happier with the way the government was enforcing the acquis communautaire and implementing EU regulations.
“We must follow these standards as we are a part of the EU.”
