Food safety n industrial products, including daily bread for the Albanian consumer, is high on the government’s agenda. Banning imports of flour with protein content less than 12 percent is another crucial measure designed to further improve food safety standards in the country. Prime Minister Edi Rama, accompanied by the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Bledi Çuçi, visited “Miell Tirana” one of the biggest and most modern flour mill in Albania, with quality and safety standards being the core business for a safe and healthy market for the consumers.
“The factory has a daily 240-ton production capacity. The quality check starts with the wheat corn that is grinded, mixed, sampling, the protein check, all of these processes are double checked. It’s done in seconds. Such a device costs EUR 70 000. A few years ago, we bought the lab equipment for border use to guarantee the protein level. So, we measure the moisture, the protein, all the parameters of wheat grain. This plant uses state of the art technology. The factory is one of the most modern ones to be found around the world,” the owner of this enterprise said.
Prime Minister Edi Rama said that new food safety standards will be set with the latest proposed changes to the Criminal Procedure Code on individuals who abuse quality of food products, mainly industrial food products.
“The truth is that few years ago only the situation was a mishmash. Nobody knew what products made their way to the market. No one knew what was produced. We introduced the first restrictive measure to ban imports of flour with protein content less than 12 percent. A battle ensued as it affected certain lobbies, interests and huge capitals and it is time now to put an end to any food-related health uncertainties and threats, and the industrial food products in particular, like the daily bread. As for the safety of fruits and vegetables the truth is that a completely unfair uproar and alarm has been raised. Albania has exported around 300 000 tons of agricultural and food products and not a single truck-load with fruits and vegetable has been denied entry to the EU member states. While real concern exists over the industrial food products. Therefore, introducing provisions to the Criminal Code that would sent to jail everyone who threatens the citizens’ health, I am confident, will lead to immediate improvements, because after all a part of those who involve easily in such activity do not tend to take it seriously also due to the fact that the system has failed to prevent this phenomenon. I believe the changes will set a new benchmark on food safety products. This is indispensable,” PM Rama said.
The investor acknowledged that this form of abuse has affected producers themselves.
“For the sake of truth, we have suffered a lot, but things are now going well. After 3 years of loss we scored profits for first time last year. This year seems to go well too. The National Food Authority has started moving to block expired flour Montenegro and Kosovo,” he said.
On his part, the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development noted that the new legal measures will put an end to abuse by small producers in the bakeries.
