July the 7th, 2022 - Croatian tomatoes are set to hit the market and the shelves boasting a brand new ''proven quality'' (dokazana kvaliteta) label, much like other products have done over the last couple of years.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, after the Ministry of Agriculture passed the Decision on the recognition of the ''proven quality'' label for vegetables, the request for the recognition of the same label was submitted by the Association of Associations of Croatian Vegetable Growers.

The first producers who successfully completed the process of confirming the conformity of tomato production with the ''proven quality'' label for vegetables are Belje plus d.o.o. and Fructus glasshouses d.o.o. and soon it will be possible to buy Croatian tomatoes with this label on the market.

Vegetable producers who use the ''proven quality - Croatia/dokazana kvaliteta - Hrvatska'' label must ensure that these vegetables undergo a production process according to very precisely defined criteria in their specification, which includes care for environmental protection through the responsible use of fertilisers and pesticides, the use of the optimal time of harvesting those vegetables, the length of time spent in transport in order to preserve the nutritional value of the product, and the proper selection of the packaging that protects the vegetables from damage during their storage and transport.

It's worth noting that the first sector that recognised the advantage of this system was the fruit production sector, and the request for recognition of the ''proven quality'' label for fruit was submitted by the Croatian Fruit Association, and from October 2021, apples marked with this label could be bought on the market.

Another sector that has also recognised the advantage of this system is the consumption egg sector, and the request for the recognition of the ''proven quality'' label for consumption eggs was submitted by the Poultry Science Association, and consumption eggs marked with this label have been available for purchase on the market since February 2022.

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As Poslovni Dnevnik/Marija Brnic writes on the 21st of February, 2020, the Ministry of Agriculture also emphasises that a system of encouraging the entry of as many Croatian producers as possible will be established, which will meet the prescribed conditions for the new Croatian quality label.

The Ministry of Agriculture is launching the launch of a new Croatian quality label for agricultural and food products, on which it will state: Proven quality/Dokazana kvaliteta.

The intention is to distinguish higher quality Croatian products and make them more recognisable. These products will come from certain sectors from the production and processing of milk, meat, fruits and vegetables, oilseeds, flour and sugar, honey, eggs, olives to fisheries and aquaculture. In doing so, this new Croatian quality label, of which the European Commission (EC) has been notified, will also be able to be worn by interested manufacturers from other EU countries.

The Ministry of Agriculture also stressed that a system of encouraging the entry of as many Croatian producers as possible will be established in order to better market their value-added products on the extremely demanding EU market.

The news of the new Croatian quality label has also caused confusion since there are already a number of similar types of quality labels present in Croatia. The Ministry of Agriculture has already issued several such labels - the designation of origin, the designation of geographical origin, and the traditional specialty guaranteed, and last year, mountain product labels were also introduced.

For more than twenty years, the Croatian Chamber of Commerce (HGK) has been developing recognisable ''Croatian Quality'' and ''Original Croatian'' labels, and the Croatian Agricultural Agency (HPA) awards six food labels for Croatian farms, namely in the meat, milk, honey, eggs, bread and flour segments.

According to the latest data, these Croatian quality labels are worn by a total of 831 manufacturers. The Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds deals with the labeling of quality island products, so far they have been awarded to 324 Croatian manufacturers from 26 islands for 1,121 products. Today, HGK's quality labels are worn by 206 products and 25 services, or 144 companies, and these are mostly large companies.

However, due to the tender from the Ministry of Economy, which runs until June the 29th, 2020, there has been a visible increase in applications submitted by small and medium-sized companies, which can secure the acquisition of these Croatian quality labels through grants with the use of non-refundable EU funds. In the food product segment, 43 companies have Croatian quality labels from HGK.

''Proven quality/Dokazana kvaliteta'', as they point out from the Ministry of Agriculture, will be a unique mark of Croatian quality. In the long run, they say, these labels will replace their previous ones, which reflect traceability but have not been notified to the EC, as opposed to the new ''Proven quality'' label.

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