Yesterday, the Agency for Food Safety in BiH organized a two-day meeting in Sarajevo to discuss ways to strengthen food safety control labs. Representatives from local labs, the Institute for Accreditation and experts from EU countries took part in the seminar.
Journalists from the Center for Investigative Reporting (CIN) in Sarajevo looked at food control labs late last year. CIN’s reporting showed that there were no clear standards or approval processes in place for labs in BiH and that 36 different institutions were given permission to operate from various agencies. CIN also found labs were not monitored after opening unless they were accredited. At the moment, there are three accredited labs.
In cooperation with Federation Institute for Public Healthcare, CIN tested some of the labs in Sarajevo. Institute technicians collected food samples and sent them to three different labs which all showed different results.
