Since it is impossible to completely remove aflatoxins from food, the efforts are mainly preventive and take the form of human and animal food control. Subcommittee Chairman Milija Miletic said that the 0.25% amount of aflatoxins acceptable per litre of milk set by the Rulebook passed on 31 August 2017 was meant to make the sale and placement of milk easier for the producers.

State Secretary Zeljko Radosevic said that quality is monitored with the help of agricultural inspection services and the 2017 Rulebook is to stay in force until 30 November 2018 when it is to be replaced by a new one which will most probably lower the acceptable threshold for aflatoxins in milk to better protect the users and achieve EU standards.

Emina Milakara, acting head of the Veterinary Directorate, said that a series of trainings were organized across Serbia to educate farmers about the generation of microorganisms and their impact of both human and animal health. Agriculturalists have so far been allocated 16 tonnes of zeolite, natural soil purifier, and 80% of the corn tested was found to be safe for consumption. She added that the tests conducted in December 2017 and January 2018 showed that 9% of the milk tested had aflatoxin concentrations higher than allowed, 32.5% of the milk had concentrations between Serbian and EU standards, and 58.5% had levels below 0.05% per litre which is the EU threshold.

Nenad Milojevic, head of the Plant Protection Directorate, said that the Directorate’s work in the last year was mainly marked by preventive efforts. He said that the results of the monitoring conducted on 290 plots in Serbia show a lower concentration of aflatoxins in early than in late-season hybrids. Milojevic also added that according to the monitoring corn harvested by combine contains more aflatoxins than corn harvested in cobs.

Following the discussion, the officials decided to recommend that advisory and expert agricultural services should spend more time in the field and provide the farmers with recommendations on how to prevent and stem the development of microorganisms.

The sitting was chaired by Subcommittee Chairman Milija Miletic, and attended by Subcommittee members Zarko Bogatinovic, Mladen Lukic and Dalibor Radicevic.