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Australian market is open to Lithuanian producers of salmonid products

2021 m. October 20 d.

The State Food and Veterinary Service (SFVS) informs that Lithuanian companies producing salmonid products can already export their production to Australia. The SFVS received the official information on the findings of the audit carried out in Lithuania, during which the state veterinary control performed by the SFVS, including the control in fisheries companies, was assessed. The Australian Department of Agriculture and Water Resources has reported that food safety and export controls performed by the SFVS meet Australian biosecurity requirements and has added Lithuania to the list of approved salmonid processing countries as well as approved a veterinary export certificate form for the export of salmonid products to Australia. “This is long-awaited good news for the Lithuanian fisheries sector. We contacted the competent Australian authorities regarding the exports of salmon products already in 2015. Australia has very high biosafety standards, so the positive findings of the audit carried out by the experts from this country are a very good assessment. We hope that the companies of our country producing fishery products will successfully expand into the newly opened market”, – said the SFVS Director Mantas Staškevičius. Three Lithuanian companies producing fishery products are already interested in the possibility of exporting to Australia. This news for them means new opportunities for Lithuanian products to enter another continent of the world.

Higher quantities for small-scale producers – more opportunities for the consumers

2021 m. October 14 d.

With the entry into force of the amendments to the legislation prepared by the State Food and Veterinary Service (SFVS) this month, many food producers will be able to produce and supply higher quantities of production to the consumers. The new changes not only expand the range of animal food produced and supplied to the local market, but also increase the quantities of production. This will help small-scale producers feel more financially stable and open up more choices for the consumers. Small-scale food producers have the opportunities to produce and supply up to 1000 kg of cut out meat per week and up to 200 kg of minced meat to the local market. There are also established higher quantities of animal food produced and supplied to the local market: meat preparations – 300 kg per week (previously the established amount was 200 kg), fish caught per day – 200 kg (previously 150 kg), raw milk per day – 1500 kg and dairy products made from it on your own farm (previously 1000 kg). From now on, the production quantities of local small-scale producers will be among the highest in the whole EU. According to the SFVS Director Mantas Staškevičius, small-scale producers in our country ensure the necessary condition – food safety and can become more active in small-scale production. As a result, the SFVS appealed to the European Commission, which supported the amendment to the legislation initiated by the SFVS – to maximize the production volumes of small-scale producers, while also encouraging the competitiveness of locally manufactured products through short food supply chains. "We see a growing interest in the production and sale of animal food, and the aim of the SFVS is to enable small-scale farmers to have all opportunities to expand and produce as much as possible. After the quarantine significantly adjusted its normal activities, people discovered this niche for their own business by spending more time at home. Lithuanians are very entrepreneurial people, and it is to be welcomed that family businesses are being created for the production of traditional food products, so that people are so able to create jobs for themselves not only in big cities, but also in remote regions of Lithuania. Undoubtedly, the establishment of such small-scale producers has been stimulated by the changed needs of the consumers, more and more people give priority to local, Lithuanian food products from small-scale farmers and producers”, – emphasises Mantas Staškevičius, the Director of the SFVS. According to M. Staškevičius, the SFVS is constantly reviewing the existing legislation and is looking for the ways how to encourage the beginning of small-scale production. The SFVS also provides additional special thematic guidelines on its website for those who intend to start producing and placing on the market animal food products, explains how the requirements of legal acts (https://vmvt.lt/maisto-sauga/verslui/dokumentai-pradedant-veikla) should be implemented. The specialists provide consultations by a free phone number 8 800 40 403, by the following e-mail klausimai@vmvt.lt or by filling in the electronic request form. In accordance with the data of the SFVS, 642 small-scale farmers and companies currently handle food in small quantities in Lithuania and sell it directly to the consumers. 293 of them produce and supply milk and milk products, 109 – meat products, 90 – fresh fish, 150 – fish products.

The SFVS presents its contribution to preventing the spread of food fraud in the EU at an international conference

2021 m. September 27 d.

At an event bringing together experts from different countries and professions organised on the initiative of the Customs of the Republic of Lithuania and EUROPOL, the State Food and Veterinary Service (SFVS), which is one of the members of EUROPOL Operation OPSON, presented the results of its work and its contribution to the investigation of international food fraud cases. During the event this week, experts from customs of the Baltic States, State Tax Inspectorate and SFVS, together with representatives of the EU Law Enforcement Agency (EUROPOL), the EU Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO), the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE), and representatives of such international brands and platforms as Lavazza, Diageo, Nestle, Tequila, and Amazon discussed the importance of multifaceted cooperation and the involvement of different authorities in identifying, detecting and investigating product counterfeiting and intellectual property infringements. The conference highlighted that investigations into food and beverage fraud and intellectual property infringements require the involvement of a wide range of professionals and therefore cooperation and data exchange is an essential element for achieving effective results. In Lithuania, Customs department officers and the SFVS actively participate in international OPSON operations initiated by INTERPOL and EUROPOL to prevent food fraud. ‘As part of the assessment of the food safety challenges posed by new food production technologies, EU countries, including Lithuania, have in recent years been increasingly dedicating their resources to targeted research to detect fraud; Improved, more and more sensitive as well as technologically advanced research methods also help to identify them in specific product groups,” says Deimantė Biknerytė, Chief Adviser of the SFVS, who at the conference presented the input of the SFVS experts in a large-scale investigation case to prevent illegal trade in protected eel. — This serves as an example of a timely identification and detention of large quantity of black-market goods by the joint effort of the police and customs officers together with the food and veterinary servants from European countries.’ Last January, the SFVS, together with customs officers, intercepted three eel consignments at the border control at Malkų įlanka border veterinary inspection post at Klaipeda Seaport – 66 tons in total, transiting through Lithuania to Belarus from China. Sampling and the sample analysis confirmed the suspicion that the transported eel species have been falsified in order to conceal that the transported products come from an eel species protected by the CITES Convention. Products of the species protected by the Convention may be transported but must be duly certified, i.e., they are subject to specific authorisations by the competent authorities. For its part, the SFVS issued several Rapid Alerts to the European Commission via the international food fraud information system for further investigation of the case. As this concerns third countries, further investigation under the procedure is already carried out by the European Commission through EU law enforcement and anti-fraud authorities such as OLAF, EUROPOL, or INTERPOL. Also, the material collected by the SFVS was transferred to the Customs Criminal Service. According to the SFVS, eel consignments have been destroyed. See the investigation scheme below. On 20 September, the international forum on combating food and drink fraud was organised by the Customs of Republic of Lithuania in cooperation with EUROPOL. Please find the full agenda.

Exchange of experience with colleagues from Moldova

2021 m. September 08 d.

Representatives of the National Agency for Food (ANSA) of the Republic of Moldova are visiting the State Food and Veterinary Service (SFVS) this week. The SFVS experts demonstrate the system ensuring food safety and veterinary controls in Lithuania to the colleagues attending study visits here and help them to prepare for the audits of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) on the compliance of poultry, poultry products and eggs with the requirements of the European Union (EU) and on residues of veterinary medicinal products, contaminants in live animals and food of animal origin, including controls on veterinary medicinal products. The guests will learn more about the official controls carried out by the SFVS, the operation of the National Food and Veterinary Risk Assessment Institute that performs risk assessment in the fields of food and veterinary, conducts food and veterinary studies, and performs scientific risk analysis. During the visit, the Moldovan delegation will also visit several Lithuanian establishments, which operate in the fields of broiler rearing, poultry slaughter and poultry processing, manufacture of egg products, processing salmon products, and frozen culinary products. The SFVS has been cooperating with the Moldovan ANSA specialists for a number of years. Being an important partner, the SVFS was opted for the implementation of the two-year EU twinning project “Further support to agriculture, rural development and food safety in the Republic of Moldova” (MD 16 ENI AG 01 19 (MD/37)). The junior manager of the twin project and Deputy Director of the SFVS Vidmantas Paulauskas comments on the results of the project, “The first year of the project was truly intense. SFVS experts took part in as many as 22 remote missions, official controls on establishments of food of animal origin, and trainings for state inspectors were organised during the further 7 outbound missions. The SFVS, together with ANSA staff, carried out inspections of slaughterhouses and poultry processing plants, egg packing centres, establishments with laying hens and broilers, ice-cream production facilities. Thus, this visit in Lithuania bears importance in practical terms of presenting our country’s businesses that comply with EU requirements and successfully export their production to non-EU countries." According to the Deputy Director, such projects provide mutual benefits, ensure close cooperation between the veterinary services of both countries and enhance international experience. Currently, in addition to the Moldovan project, the SFVS is running two other projects: the Technical Assistance to Support EU - Health of Ethiopian Animals for Rural Development project in Ethiopia in collaboration with Belgian and Swiss colleagues and a EU Twinning project to share expertise quality control standards in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The latter is being implemented together with partners from Italy and Hungary. The SFVS as a leader or as a partner has already successfully implemented a total of 9 Twinning projects in Turkey, Ukraine, Moldova, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Romania, Serbia, and 3 other EU-funded technical assistance projects in Belarus, Serbia and Ukraine.

External audit gives a positive assessment to the activities of the SFVS

2021 m. August 10 d.

The Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety F of the European Commission (DG SANTE F) will continue the audit of the State Food and Veterinary Service (SFVS) delegated to it in the coming year, the findings of which have been assessed as good and very good for a decade. In Lithuania, the following 2 areas of the SFVS supervision will be audited in 2022: the control of imports of animals and animal products and the residues of veterinary medicines in animals and food products. In addition, there are planned 2 documentary checks: a documentary check of national antimicrobial resistance action plans and an analysis of specific procedures in contingency plans for the cases of contagious animal diseases. "One of the priority areas of our activities is the development of export markets and export promotion. It is essential that the activities of the SFVS supervision are properly evaluated. Positive and publicly available audit findings are a certain kind of recognition that the control system implemented in Lithuania is effective, we also properly implement the requirements of the European Union legislation and this ensures the production and export of safe and high-quality food products. I would like to point out that since 2011, the Directorate of the European Commission has audited the SFVS even for 34 times and our supervision has been assessed as good or very good”, – commented Mantas Staškevičius, the Director of the SFVS. The European Commission, in its role as a guardian of the Treaties of the European Union, ensures that European Union legislation is properly implemented and enforced during the audits. The task of the Directorate is to check the compliance with the requirements of food safety and quality, animal health and welfare, and plant health legislation in the countries of the European Union. The inspections cover not only the European Union countries but also third countries that export to the European Union. The findings of the inspections performed are presented in the audit reports, which are published on the European Commission's website. More information can be found here: DG SANTE audit map Characteristics of Lithuania

Events

Events

2015 y. March 06 d.

Events

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State food and veterinary service
State budgetary institution The Register of Legal Entities
code: 188601279

Address: Siesikų str. 19,
07170 Vilnius Lithuania
Tel. +370 5 240 4361
E-mail: info@vmvt.lt

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♦ List of Border Control Posts (BCPs)

♦ Control Points (CPs) other than BCPs designated for official controls on certain food and feed of non-animal

Register of Veterinary Approved Animal Food Handling Entities

List of ABP Objects and Entities subject to veterinary supervision

Approved warehouses meeting the requirements of Article 23 (2) of Regulation (EU) 2019/2124

COMMISSION DECISION of 30 April 2008 implementing Council Directive 2006/88/EC as regards an Internet-based information page to make information on aquaculture production businesses and authorised processing establishments available by electronic means

Approved and registered establishments under veterinary supervision

List of aquaculture establishments (Directive 2006/88/EC and Regulation (EC) No 708/2007)

LIST OF ANIMAL FOOD BUSINESS OPERATORS APPROVED BY ARTICLE 12 OF COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION 2014/709/EU

List of establishments approved in accordance with Section A of Chapter V of Annex IV to Regulation (EC) No 999/2001

Published:
2021-07-08

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