From 2 to 4 April, the Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority hosted representatives of the Serbian Ministry of Agriculture, Trade, Forestry and Water Management. Deputy of the Minister for agricultural inspection, director of phytosanitary service and two other experts responsible for food safety arrived to the CR.

In Serbia, which became a candidate country for entry the EU on 1 March 2012, there are no independent authorities for supervision of the areas mentioned above so far. These sections belong under the Serbian Ministry and their activities overlap very often. The experts from Serbia were therefore strongly interested in the process of establishment and functioning of similar authorities in the Czech Republic as in Serbia, the system of these institutions will have to be solved in the future.

At CAFIA they we were welcomed by Director General Jakub Šebesta and then the Serbian delegates were acquainted with functioning of our Authority. They were introduced to the activities of laboratory in Brno and they had the opportunity to look around the laboratory with their own eyes.

The second day, representatives of the CAFIA Inspectorate in Brno took care of the visitors, they introduced them their activities and showed them inspection in the brewery in Černá Hora. The Serbian representatives asked a lot about the information system Control and Laboratory Activities (IS CLA), practical execution of risk analysis and other issues. The delegation spent the last day of the visit at the CAFIA Inspectorate in Prague, where inspections were also discussed and the laboratory was visited as well. They were interested in custom warehouses, matter of consumers’ submissions, sampling process, and co-operation with external laboratories.

Sharing and providing information and experience in the area of food safety will further go on.