May the 17th, 2023 - The popular Croatian brands Zvijezda (star) and PIK Vrbovec have decided to team up in partnership with the much loved Mlinar. They have already announced three brand new products.

As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, Mlinar, as one of the largest bakery groups within the Adria region that continuously innovates and follows trends, has recently been offering Planet of plants products in its assortment: burek, hot dogs made in puff pastry and a plant-based sandwich. In the first phase, the offer will be available at more than 70 Mlinar sales points throughout the Republic of Croatia, and in the second phase, it will be available in the entire Mlinar network and for other wholesale customers. This is the result of cooperation with the popular Croatian brands Zvijezda and PIK Vrbovec, which, several years ago, designed the very first Croatian line of plant-based products; Planet of plants.

Planet of plants burek contains pea protein instead of minced meat, and along with it, there is also a leafy one with a Planet of plants hot dog created on a plant-based basis which is made from pea protein and potatoes, with a side of mustard combined with a creamy sauce made of ginger, turmeric and cumin. The third product that can recently be found in Mlinar is a sandwich with salami made from sunflower protein, along enriched with egg-free mayonnaise.

"When we say plant-based, most people still think of vegans and vegetarians. However, the market shows that we're increasingly choosing plant-based foods, this even goes for all of us "others" for whom meat is still an important source of protein, but are ready to try something new and introduce new eating habits. Our strength lies in the experience of production based on the use of the power of plants, and we're glad that we have the opportunity to build the development of a new category of products together with consumers and create some new habits,'' said Gaspar Novak, the director of marketing and development of Zvijezda, which developed the line in synergy with PIK Vrbovec within the Fortenova Group.

Mlinar, on the other hand, stated that they always try to keep up with trends and offer their customers something new.

"Following the trends, cooperation with Planet of plants, as the first Croatian line of plant-based products, was a logical step forward. We combined tradition with innovation and offered our customers practical and tasty snacks at sales points throughout the Republic of Croatia. Burek is Mlinar's best-selling product of all, and we're glad that with this step into plant-based alternatives to meat, we've been able to further expand our offer," said Mario Scherr, Mlinar's executive director of marketing and retail.

In the Planet of plants line, in addition to the new bakery products that can now be found in Mlinar stores, there are a total of nine products: burgers, salami, minced meat, hot dogs, dumplings, mayonnaise, sauce, spread and coconut cubes. In addition to Croatia, these new products can be found on the markets of Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro and Hungary, and further expansion of placement on foreign markets is planned.

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ZAGREB, 3 Feb 2022 - PIK Vrbovec is Croatia's first meat company that has begun exporting to Japan, the Ministry of Agriculture said in a statement on Thursday.

After meeting the strict Japanese meat processing and production criteria, last month PIK Vrbovec made its first delivery of baby beef to the HoReCa channel in Japan. The company was issued with an HVI 21-2 veterinary certificate thanks to successful cooperation between the Croatian Ministry of Agriculture and the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries.

The CEO of PIK Vrbovec, Slaven Ružić, was quoted as saying that this is a very important market for his company because Japan is the world's second-largest importer of meat and meat products, notably high-quality baby beef.

"We are proud to be the first Croatian meat company to export its meat to Japan. This is yet another confirmation of the quality of Croatian livestock production and excellent news for domestic producers in general," Ružić said.

The Ministry said that this was the result of years of work by its Veterinary Service on animal disease eradication and control programmes.

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