AG INDUSTRY LEADERS URGE GOVERNMENT TO ENACT TOUGHER EUROPEAN STANDARDS TO KEEP NATION’S FOOD SAFE
Executives representing some of the country’s largest and best-known agricultural companies told attendees at a food safety conference that they encourage the government to adopt and enforce food safety and quality standards equal to those found in the European Union — and some already comply with what they consider the moee stringent EU rules.
«Product safety starts with the safety of the ingredients,» said Danone Ukraine General Manager Dario Marchetti. «Modern dairy companies need milk produced and transported in accordance with stringent hygienic standards. That’s why we have spent more than 10 million Euros to ensure our product quality and to bring our three plants in Ukraine up to meet exacting European standards that usually are more stringent than those required by local legislation. We encourage Ukraine to adopt the European standards for dairy products. Consumers will benefit.»
Marchetti was one of more than thirty speakers present at a conference today sponsored by the Kyiv Post newspaper and the East Europe Foundation NGO. The conference, entitled «Protecting Ukraine’s Food Supply: Quantity, Quality, Safety» was held at Kyiv’s Fairmont Grand Hotel. It featured addressed by First Deputy Minister of Economic Development and Trade Anatoliy Maksyuta, Czech Agriculture Minister Petr Bendl, Andriy Khudo, founder and co-owner of the !Fest restaurant holding, and UDAR party leader and heavyweight boxing champion Vitaly Klitchko and others.
«Food quality and safety is the way forward,» said Renato Ruszczyk, INSERT POSITION of Lactalis. «It breeds trust between consumers and producers. Bringing safe, high quality food to the world’s markets is the best way for Ukraine to reach its agricultural potential and secure its reputation — not merely as a ‘bread basket’ country, but as a premier agrarian nation offering European quality.»
Ian Borden, managing director of McDonald’s Ukraine, said that «product quality and safety are at the foundation of our business. At all stages of the production process, McDonald’s Ukraine, its suppliers, and independent experts carry out quality inspections to ensure product quality and safety. The Kyiv Post food safety conference gave us a great opportunity to share our experience in Ukraine and around the world.»
Fredrick Aherne, a non-executive director dairy producer Milkiland, agreed: «Safety in an absolute prerequisite for a food business,» he said. «Safe food means food that complies with all the laws and regulations for ingredients and production conditions so that no harmful agents like salmonella or listeria are present. Without safety, there is no business. There is no marketing trick or fancy packaging that can ever make up for an unsafe product.»
Andreas Lier, managing director for BASF in Ukraine, spoke about food security, and the opportunity to shift its agricultural role should from that of an agricultural commodities exporter to that of a processed foods exporter. Before that can happen, he said, crop yields need to be increased to a competitive level.
In many areas, the production of commodities like wheat and corn are only about 60 percent of yields found in Western Europe, Lier said, adding that there is significant room for growth in productivity. He called agricultural chemicals like those produced by BASF «intelligent and sustainable enablers» that can increase crop yields.
Lier said that Ukraine had great potential as a ‘downstream’ producer of finished products for the feed and food industry, and that «also here, chemistry is an important enabler, adding vitamins and important sustainable ingredients» to commodities used in food processing.
«There is a lot of potential in the development of the downstream side of the value chain,» he said, «and in keep value in-country to generate additional GDP.»
«This is a question of modernization, of people and of their talents,» Lier said. "Ukraine needs to develop a road map for the food industry, and BASF would be most happy to contribute to the future success of the country through its agricultural and food industries.
