Quality and safety of products of animal origin and consumers attitudes: Cyprus perspective

Abstract

Cyprus is an island in the South-East Mediterranean Sea, at the crossroads of three continents, Asia, Africa and Europe. Throughout its history, different civilizations dominated the island, leaving their marks on the culture, food and peoples’ habits. To this day, a vast variety of traditional products comprise common ingredients of the Cypriots’ diet. Cyprus-produced traditional products include zalatina (ready-to-eat pork meat cuts in fat), loukanika (wine sausages), tsamarella (dried goat meat), lountza (matured in wine or/and by smoking procedure pork fillet), halloumi (type of cheese) and anari (type of cheese). In total, 1,058,740 animals (pigs, sheep, goats, bovines) are slaughtered each year to meet the demands of a human population of 796,900. This highlights the high consumption of meat in Cyprus. In 2004, Cyprus joined the EU therefore adopting and complying with the relevant EU legislation. As a result, for the production of food, the use of methods that were not in accordance with the provisions of EU legislation was terminated. Public announcements were made for consumers and scientific advice was provided to the producers while implementing the EU standards, enabling consumers to become more aware and better informed on the importance of food safety and quality. Official controls became systematic and strict, in order to meet the consumers’ expectations on the quality and safety of food. Inspections, sampling and reports were rearranged accordingly, and a new evaluation and control system which ensures public health and promotes the production of a variety of products was developed. The consumers can now choose from an array of local traditional products with assured quality and safety. One of the missions of the Veterinary Services of Cyprus is to foster excellence in the evaluation and supervision of the quality and safety of products of animal origin for the benefit of public health. This also pertains to the production of traditional products which are an integral part of the Cypriot cuisine and culture.Keywordsquality and safetycustomer approachtraditional productscompetent authority