Export of sweets in line with new EU regulations – Allowed acrylamide amounts to be halved from April 2018

Local producers of sweets will need to reduce the amounts of acrylamide, which is produced in frying and baking, beginning with April 2018 if they want to continue exporting to the European Union. This might also benefit local consumers, although experts are increasingly more suspicious that local producers will implement the same rules in the local market, especially the smaller ones that have no exporting ambitions.

Danica Zaric, director of Ihis Nutricionizam, told Politika that the new regulations would be binding for the EU members and that Serbia would have to adhere to them only when it adjusts its legislative with the European one or when it enters the EU.

– However, the producers which export to the EU will have to reduce the amounts of this matter in their products from April 2018 – Zaric says and adds that, recently, on the occasion of the stopped shipment of cookies to Croatia, this was seen more as a political problem than something that is yet to have an impact on the local industry.

The elimination of toxic matters created during the technological process is a new challenge for the food industry. The EU regulations introduce a lot of changes. They will drastically reduce the maximum allowed amount of this matter in food products.

For example, the indicative value for chips was 1,000 micrograms per kilogram until now, whereas the current maximum is 750 micrograms. As for cookies and waffles, it’s been reduced from 500 to 350. Grain-based food for children may now only have 40 micrograms of the matter per kilogram, as opposed to the previous value of 50.

Ministarstvo poljoprivrede, šumarstva i vodoprivrede Republike Srbije

Ihis Nutricionizam

confectionery industry

production of sweets

production of confectionery

confectionery

acrylamide

allowed amounts of acrylamide in food products

export of sweets to the EU

export of confectionery to the EU

Danica Zaric

food industry

food products

cookies

waffles

food for children

chips