Bosnia and Herzegovina, together with 14 countries of the Danube Region, has participated in the development of “WITHOUT GMO Standards” for the Danube Region and it is the first country to adopt the national BEE GMO Guidelines.
In April 2019, BiH became the first country in the region to certify and label products with a regional quality label “WITHOUT GMO PRODUCED” and this has confirmed that it follows European trends without GMO production.
Quality label “WITHOUT GMO Produced” guarantees that the entire production process is controlled and certified according to the GMO Standard for the Danube Region, which is a unique mark for our entire region and is the result of many years of cooperation of the Danube Soy Association, 14 European Ministries of Agriculture and Food Safety Agency Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The first successful examples without GMO certification and labeling in Bosnia and Herzegovina were realized in cooperation with Bingo companies (Bingo eggs) and Bimal (vegetable oil), News Agency Paria reports.
Non-GM Danube Region Standard is the first regional harmonised Non-GM quality standard in South East Europe which is the basis of a new food and feed certification and labelling with a unique quality label “NON GMO Produced “, provided by Donau Soja and common to all markets in the region.
The standards for production and inspection were developed with the support of the 15 Ministries of Agriculture within the Danube region, the Organisation for International Cooperation of Germany (GIZ), Austrian Development Agency (ADA) and the leading German and Austrian institutions for non-GM certification and labelling such as the German VLOG – Association Food without Genetic Engineering and the Austrian Platform for GMO-Free Food Products (ARGE Gentechnik-frei) as well as the Environment Agency Austria (UBA) and Donau Soja Organisation.
The Non-GM Danube Region Standard in combination with the regional “NON GMO Produced” label which is provided by the Donau Soja Organisation offers the possibility of a joint and transparent market of non-GM products and enables regional trade without barriers. Besides, it provides the industry with the opportunity to regionaly promote non-GM certified products, and thus adds value to the non-GM food sector in South East Europe, and, at the same time allows consumers to make an informed choice.