In relation to the information that large quantities of honey with low import price are being imported into Bosnia and Herzegovina, which raises suspicion of consumers and beekeepers in the quality of that honey, the Republic of Srpska Food Inspection Service can only speak about inspections conducted at border crossings and customs offices in the Republic of Srpska.

Records on inspected imported shipments of food show that 28 shipments of honey and other beekeeping products were imported through border crossings and customs offices in the Republic of Srpska this year. From that number, importers from the Federation of B&H imported six shipments originating from Turkey, four shipments from New Zealand and 13 shipments from Serbia. Importers from the Republic of Srpska imported only five shipments, all of them originating from Serbia. There were periodical samplings for laboratory testing during import and all samples tested were assessed as regular.

The Republic Food Inspection Service last month also conducted inspections of honey in the internal market of the Republic of Srpska in order to test for safety and quality. Total of 13 samples were taken from retail facilities and sent for laboratory testing. The analysis showed that only one sample was assessed as irregular in terms of HMF content and diastatic activity.

During sampling the inspectors took special notice of the retail price of honey, i.e. they chose products with lower prices, which can be a basis for suspicion of its quality. The samples were sent to the laboratory marked exclusively with codes, without data in the producers, in order to provide for uniform marking of official samples and testing in the laboratory.