Czech food groups still with much to do
become fully-fledged members of the European Union, many food
companies still have a long way to go before they meet the Union's
stringent requirements on food safety and quality.
This at least appears to be the case in the Czech Republic, one of the most advanced of the Central and Eastern European countries lining up to join the trading bloc.
Speaking to European Union officials in Brussels last week, the head of the Czech State Veterinary Administration (SVS) said that more than 500 food production plants had been closed in 2003 because they failed to meet new hygiene and safety standards designed to bring them in line with those in the EU.
The CTK news agency reports that Josef Holejsovsky told the Commission that the number of plants which had been closed was greater than expected - initial estimates had been around 320 - and that the additional 180 companies which were forced to close had perhaps underestimated just how strict the SVS inspectors would be.
But with the EU having already highlighted the state of Czech food production facilities as being a major barrier to entry of the EU back in November, there was little or no room for manoeuvre for the Czech veterinary inspectors - either companies met the year-end deadline for improvements or they were closed down.
CTK reports that Holejsovsky said vets had checked around 2,800 facilities processing meat, milk, fish and eggs, of which a total of 505 failed to comply with the standards.
Companies which failed to meet the requirements were not necessarily forced to close, he said, but would be prevented from selling any of their output until they met the new standards.
He added that some 236 slaughterhouses had been closed down by inspectors, including 77 large ones, along with 51 dairies, of which 22 were classified as large.
European Union inspectors are due to make their own assessment of Czech food production facilities next week.
While bring food production plants up to EU standards is clearly leading to a major shake up of the industry, and costing food producers a great deal of money, the long term benefits are clear, not least for consumers who must be shocked that so many of the companies processing their foods were doing so without meeting basic hygiene standards.
And having EU-quality production facilities will of course allow Czech companies to export their products to any of the other 24 Member States without let or hindrance come 1 May - by no means an easy task, certainly, but one which, if successful, will enable them to recover their costs far more quickly.
