During a visit to the Wine and Alcoholic Beverages Directorate of the National Food Chain Safety Office (NFSCO), Minister for Rural Development Sándor Fazekas and Ministerial Commissioner for Wine Sector Development Eliza Kiss viewed the institutions activities aimed at facilitating the work of wine producers and the work phase of the National Tasting of Red and Rosé Wines, which is currently underway.
The institution plays an extremely important role from the perspective of the wine industry by providing quality services for wine producers and because it is able to assure the quality and dependability of marketed wines in a unique manner using its professionally fitted laboratories and experts.
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Mr. Fazekas said that the Ministry had introduced several measures related to the wine industry in cooperation with the institution recently, which have created a favourable environment for wine makers. Wine producers' overheads have decreased significantly in view of the fact that applying for a wine production license has become free, something that has also lead to a reduction in illegal wine production.
At the request of wine makers, a quantity-related monitoring fee had been introduced within the framework of the marketing certification procedure, which means a significant reduction in expenses for small-scale producers. The measure has led to a significant increase in the number of legally marketed wine consignments, and accordingly to a decrease in the food safety risks related to the wines on the market.
Institution Director Kálmán Mészáros told Minister Fazekas that the increased monitoring of imported wines has also lead to a reduction in the food safety risks associated with imported wines. 1052 checks were conducted in this regard during 2013, during the course of which 2675 official samples were taken. Following laboratory tests, problems were found with regard to 438 wine consignments, usually as a result of small discrepancies in labelling and quality issues. This is a drop of 2% compared to the previous year; the number of fake products, however, has decreased drastically.
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Ministerial Commissioner for Wine Sector Development Eliza Kiss said that the National Wine Experts Committee had chosen the National Food Chain Safety Office's Wine and Alcoholic Beverages Directorate as the location of the National Tasting of Red and Rosé Wines in view of the fact that one of the basic guarantors of quality is the professional analytic laboratory that is one of the very important elements in marketing and accordingly with relation to the certification of quality. The currently running National Tasting will be the basis for the selection of the Red and Rose National Wine Team, following the publication of the very successful White National Wine Team Book last year. With this, the National Wine Team will be complete, and will form the basis for the unified market presence of Hungarian wines in the upcoming period.
(MTI)
