BiH First in the Region to Certify "GMO-FREE" Products

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - Bosnia and Herzegovina, along with 14 Danube region countries, participated in the development of the „GMO-FREE Standard“ for the Danube region and is the first country to adopt national GMO-FREE Guidelines based on this standard.

In April 2019, BiH became the first country in the region to certify and label products with the regional quality mark „GMO-FREE Produced“, thus confirming its alignment with European trends in GMO-free production, certification, and food labeling, thereby supporting domestic agricultural producers and the food industry, while also respecting consumer choice rights.

The quality mark “GMO-FREE Produced” guarantees that the entire production process is controlled and certified according to the GMO-FREE Standard for the Danube region, which is a unique mark for our entire region and the result of many years of cooperation between the Danube Soya Association, 14 European ministries of agriculture, and the Food Safety Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The first successful examples of GMO-FREE certification and labeling in Bosnia and Herzegovina were achieved in cooperation with the companies Bingo (Bingo brand eggs) and Bimal (vegetable oil).

On the occasion of promoting the significance of GMO-FREE certification and the importance of labeling agricultural and food products for the competitiveness of domestic producers and the food industry in Bosnia and Herzegovina, a press conference will be held on Tuesday in the building of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. The press conference will be attended by Mirko Šarović, Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of BiH, Mario Beus, Head of the Plant Production Department, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Water Management and Forestry, Boris Pašalić, Minister of Agriculture of Republika Srpska, Džemil Hajrić, Director of the Food Safety Agency of BiH, Nataša Pucar, Director of Corporate Communications at Bimal, and Edin Ibrahimović, Executive Director for Business Operations at Bingo.