New centre to determine if food products are Croatian

(Photo. Neven Krcmarek)

ZAGREB, July 31 (Hina) – The Food Safety and Control Centre will make it possible for the first time to determine with certainty if a food product is indeed Croatian and which part of the country it comes from, it was said at a cornerstone laying ceremony in Zagreb on Wednesday.

The project was launched by the Andrija Stampar Teaching Institute of Public Health, in cooperation with the Zagreb Faculty of Agriculture, for the scientific determination of food quality, safety and origin.

Mayor Milan Bandic said the construction would cost about HRK 90 million, of which 60 million was a grant and the rest was invested by the City of Zagreb.

Cornerstone of the new centre laid on Wednesday

Health Minister Milan Kujundzic said it was estimated that the number of people with cancer would double over the next 20 years, adding that one of the main causes were the toxins in food and drinks.

Medically speaking, the value of this project is therefore incredible, he said.

In times of global obesity and a diabetes pandemic, what we eat and where the products we eat come from is extremely important, said Zvonimir Sostar, head of the Andrija Stampar Institute.

Zvonimir Sostar speaking at the opening

“Over the next four years, for the project’s duration, we will map all of Croatia, with domestic honey and oil producers doing free geographic origin analyses,” he said, adding that this was the biggest investment in public health in Croatia in the last 50 years.