Locally sourced meat now labelled on shop receipts
Slovenian consumers have been given an extra tool to check whether the meat they are buying as locally sourced is in fact of Slovenian origin. Starting from 1 November retailers are required to label fresh meat of Slovenian origin on shopping receipts as SI, the ISO Alpha-2 code for Slovenia.
The aim of the measure, which was one of the strike demands of farmers' organisations, is to prevent the false labelling of the Slovenian origin of meat.
It comes after years of warnings that some of the meat sold in Slovenia under the Slovenian origin label actually comes from abroad. Monitoring the origin of meat that has not been pre-packaged should prevent such problematic practices.
Under the new rule, which was agreed in September, retailers must ensure that when it comes to beef, pork, lamb, and goat or poultry meat of Slovenian origin information guaranteeing the traceability of meat of Slovenian origin appears on the receipt under the SI label.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food has explained that the Slovenian origin label means that the country of birth, rearing, slaughter and, in the case of beef, cutting up is Slovenia.
Farmers' organisations are also pushing for an information system that would allow real-time monitoring of the origin of meat.
Consumers are increasingly looking for locally sourced food, but retailers say that more should be done to boost production and the country's self-sufficiency.
Data from the national Statistics Office shows food self-sufficiency increased when it comes to meat by two percentage points to 87% last year.
Self-sufficiency in beef increased to 116% but slightly fell for poultry although at 109% it means Slovenia still produces more than it consumes.
When it comes to meat self-sufficiency is lowest for pork with Slovenia only producing 41% of what it consumes.
Self-sufficiency in sheep and goat meat has remained roughly at the same level in recent years (at 95% in 2022), while the share of self-sufficiency in horsemeat has been rising sharply and was well above 300% last year.
