“SLOVAK food product” has an exact definition as of July 2013. The Agriculture Ministry has come up with the long-anticipated definition for the purposes of marketing agricultural and food products.
The measure, still to be approved by the European institutions, defines a Slovak food product as one with 75 percent of its raw-material components made in Slovakia. The move is expected to help consumers more easily identify genuinely Slovak products on supermarket shelves.
Water is exempted from the definition, meaning that Coca-Cola made in western-Slovakia’s Lúka would not be considered a Slovak food product, the Sme daily reported. Only those producers who request the official mark “Kvalita SK” will be able to mark their products as “Slovak food product”. The mark will be awarded free of charge and not compulsory.
“The product bearing the mark SK is really a quality product,” Agriculture Minister Ľubomír Jahnátek said, as quoted by Sme.
While producers of dairy products say they have no problem with the new measure as all their products fulfil the criteria, producers of food dependent on seasonal food, like fruits or vegetables, could find it problematic.
