"Opinions are divided, but we are among the countries feeling that a debate needs to be held on this and solutions also sought in this direction," he elaborated.

Slovenia moreover support Austria's initiative that the EU introduce full labelling for all food products on the market, also because this coincides with efforts in Slovenia to encourage domestic production and self-sufficient supply, the state secretary explained.

Ravnik however noted that while compulsory labelling would help significantly, it is hard to implement in practice. He pointed to the example of defining the origin of a meat product - is it the place where the animal is born or the place where it is bred and slaughtered?

As regards claims that Slovenia is among the origin countries of the contentious horse meat discovered in Austria in products where it is not declared, Ravnik said that all was ok with the meat that left Slovenia and that the problem arose with the deceiving of consumers.

According to information available so far, there are no horse meat swindlers in Slovenia, Ravnik said, while adding that the additional oversight introduced would enable more conclusive findings.