Dutch and Slovakians team up on safety

Slovakia is due to become a part of the new enlarged Europe on 1 May 2004. Over a seven year period, the country has been upgrading its food safety standards in an effort to comply with the European Union's tough standards for food safety and hygiene. The twinning project with the Dutch authorities has been designed to give the Slovakian authorities first hand experience of how to deal with European Union food and safety legislation and its compliance.

The authorities say that the project should be completed by the end of January 2004, by which time Dutch Ministry staff will have spent a significant amount of time sharing their experience with their Slovakian counterparts.

Peter Turek, head of the food inspection section at the Slovakian State Veterinary and Food Administration (SVSP), said that the project had significantly helped the food inspection in preparing new regulations. "The project has trained many inspectors who have now acquired practical experience. We have learned a lot of useful information and received answers to questions which will help us to successfully operate an inspection authority,"​ business publication SITA reported Turek as saying at a press conference.

Turek added that the Slovakian authorities were now ready to control food safety according to EU regulations and that measures are now in place to take action if the new regulations are violated.

Furthermore, the authorities have also set up an infrastructure to ensure that the public is fully warned by the media when, and if, violations of food safety are discovered by inspectors. This means that any products that carry potentially harmful risks to the Slovakian public will be withdrawn from sale and the public will be notified.