Hungarians examine UHT milk from the Czech Republic and Slovakia: The Hungarian daily Magyar Uddek informed that a month long check allegedly showed that the producers indicated a higher percentage of fat than the milk really contained.
According to RTVS reporter Gregor Martin Papucsek, the Hungarian Agriculture Ministry started with controls after several demonstrations by local milk producers who complained about the low quality of the imported milk and about VAT frauds. The ministry's aim was to separate low quality milk products; the Slovak and Czech products met this criterion. 21 thousand litres of such low quality milk came to Hungary from the Czech Republic.
Food controls in Slovakia and the Czech Republic have not yet recorded any problems with the quality of milk products. Hungary has not contacted Slovak authorities so far. They view the critical approach by Hungary to be a part of a price war. Slovakia exports up to 100 thousand tons of milk to Hungary annually. The conflicts in this field are getting more frequent after the cancellation of milk quotas. The central European countries are drowning in an oversupply of milk. The Slovak controllers do not find the Hungarian criticism justified. "If there is such a case, the affected country is obliged to inform the country of milk origin about the problem," informed Jozef Bíreš, the director general of the State Veterinary and Food Administration of the Slovak Republic. As he added, they have not received any complaints so far.In case the complaints prove to be justified, Slovak producers would face fines.
