Sirogojno Company put unit for drying berry-like fruits in operation

Sirogojno Company, one of the largest fruit production, purchase and processing companies in the region of Užice, put the newly built and the best equipped unit for drying berry-like fruits in the Balkans in operation on Saturday (June 5, 2010) in Požega's village of Rupeljevo.

On that occasion, the Director General of SGS Belgrade, Marinko Ukropina, presented BRC and ISO 22000 certificates to Sirogojno Company's owner and CEO Rade Ljubojević on behalf of SGS Geneva, the world's leading certification body.

ISO 22000 (Food Safety Management System) is an international standard that defines requirements for the food safety management system, for which SGS issued the certificate under Swiss accreditation (SAS – Swiss Accreditation Service).

- Only few companies in Serbia have BRC (British Retail Consortium) Global Standard for Food Safety certificate. This standard defines the requirements of retail chains not only in Great Britain, but also in Scandinavian countries and the USA. It is adopted by the food manufacturers from all around the world, especially the organizations that supply British traders. Certification by this standard helps manufacturers, brand owners and traders meet legal obligations and protect consumers. The standard covers major share of the product safety area, as well as the field of legal responsibilities of both suppliers and sellers - said the people from company SGS and added that that certificate was issued under British accreditation (UKAS – United Kingdom Accreditation Service).

According to Sirogojno Company's owner and CEO Rade Ljubojević, about EUR 1m is invested in construction of this hot house, of which surface is 1,000 square meters, thirty workers will be hired for the preparation and production works, and dried berry-like fruits from this unit will be exported to the markets of the USA, Japan and Europe, and offered to the customers in small packaging.