The National Sanitary Veterinary and Food Safety Authority (ANSVSA), as the authority responsible for the official control of non-animal origin products, both for human consumption and animal feed, regularly carries out inspections, including of grain transports from Ukraine, regardless of the transport routes.

Regarding imports, ANSVSA conducts inspections for each transport originating from Ukraine at Border Control Posts/Points of Entry and at the final destination (grain warehouses, processing, and trading units) of these products.

Official controls involve verifying the documents of all transports and conducting random identity and physical checks, which also include sampling, in accordance with applicable legislation.

Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, ANSVSA has conducted over 9,700 inspections focused on grains and non-animal origin products from Ukraine.

Laboratory analyses of the samples taken from grains and non-animal origin products have revealed 9 non-conformities (soybeans and soybean meal) regarding the presence of genetically modified organisms and two cases of exceeding the maximum residue limits for pesticides (sunflower seeds and wheat).

In the case of sunflower seeds and wheat, these products did not enter the food chain.

The analysis reports resulting from laboratory testing for the 9 soybean and soybean meal samples indicated that these grains are genetically modified and have been authorized in accordance with the community procedure established in EC Regulation No. 1829/2003 for import, processing, and use as food and feed, with compliance with specific traceability and labeling provisions.

In this situation, as the cereals were not labeled and accompanied by documents indicating that they are genetically modified (as required by applicable legislation), the entire quantity is being held in storage for proper labeling and to ensure traceability before commercialization.

The measures applied involve official retention for establishing specific traceability. The respective cereals are safe for use in animal feed or human consumption.

Additionally, to enhance monitoring and ensure traceability of cereals transports from third countries, starting in November 2022, ANSVSA has created the conditions for tracking them in the TRACES NT platform (a platform developed by the European Commission for monitoring transports of products of animal and non-animal origin and live animals from third countries).

So far this year, no alerts related to risks associated with cereals for human or animal consumption from Ukraine have been transmitted through the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF), which operates at the European level.

In line with the European Commission's recommendations to support transport routes for Ukraine, new Points of Entry have been established in the counties bordering Ukraine and the Republic of Moldova to streamline the official control process in correlation with the number of grain transports.