Russia not sending back shipments of fruits and vegetables – Phytosanitary inspection controlling production in Serbia

Head of Phytosanitary Inspection at the Ministry of Agriculture Nenad Milojevic stated today that certain media had falsely informed that the fruits and vegetables exported to Russia were full of pesticides and nitrates.

- Based on the information we're getting from Russia, not one shipment has been sent back to Serbia nor has it been established that either shipment contains pesticides or nitrates – said Milojevic while commenting on media allegations that the agricultural inspection of Russia had recently stated that 10% of the examined fruits and vegetables imported from Serbia and Moldava were unhealthy, and that the problematic products were mostly apples and strawberries.

He said that the fruit produced in Serbia was being controlled using the annual monitoring method.

- We can say that the fruits and vegetables on sale in our country are safe for human consumption – stated Milojevic.

As he says, the monitoring is being carried out based on inspection of random samples and risk analysis. In other words, those manufacturers whose products had issues in the past are being controlled more often.

He advises the consumers to always wash the fruits and vegetables in the sink and to be careful about who they are buying from, but also to purchase fruits and vegetables at official vending locations.

According to him, there are 48 phytosanitary inspectors and 50 of them on border crossings and in ports of entry in Serbia.