Serbia recently launched a Serbian Quality label for domestic meat producers in cooperation with the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

“This is an important development for our country’s food industry as a whole, as the national label will assure consumers that what they are buying is made with products from the Republic of Serbia and is of superior quality,” Branislav Nedimović, Serbia's minister of agriculture and environmental protection, said, according to the EBRD report. “It will create a premium for quality meat products and help producers tap into new markets.”

The project, which the Serbian government plans to extend to a range of agricultural products, is based on a similar quality label system in France, which Serbian officials reviewed in developing the label. To qualify for the label, products must use Serbian raw materials and meet up to three more quality requirements.

The process of creating origin-based and quality labels in Serbia has been very stimulating and encouraging,” said FAO Senior Economist Emmanuel Hidier, according to the EBRD. “It has involved lots of goodwill and cooperation from a wide range of stakeholders, from public authorities to farmers and agribusinesses.”