We are investigating: What is the quality of the beer we drink in Serbia?

Many doubts

In the words of the president of the Serbian National Consumers Organization, Goran Papović, most of the complaints from citizens still concern the price of these goods. However, the composition is also questionable, to which the existing regulations contribute.

“The regulation on the purity of beer is not well regulated, you have to be a scientist to interpret it, and the Beer Law itself is quite short and stingy. To improve the situation, it is necessary to work on the mentioned regulation so that be clear to everyone, but also in the regular control of the merchandise “, says Papović for B92.net.

He points out that there are no financial resources to perform serious beer quality analysis and that eventually in the future the Institute for Wine and Beer Quality could implement something like this.

“Until then, there will be doubts about the types and amounts of substitutes and flavors that are added to beer, from corn, to various herbs to aromas of chocolate, bananas, everything there … We ask that a maximum percentage of substitutes is 20 percent, and some research in previous years is that their presence in some cases was 50, even more than 50 percent. Before, “a friend should never have failed”, today it happens that consumers not even they know who owns the brewery, if the bottles with different labels actually carry different beers or if it is the same product, just in different packages. There is also the issue of hops, which is one of the main aromas of beer. , and whose plantations we practically do not have ”, he says.

Our interlocutor concludes that the market is not educated enough and that a special unknown for him is the artisanal production of beer, the so-called kraft brewery.

“These beers have become popular lately, but the question is whether the good quality is really what contributes to their popularity or is it all just good marketing,” Papović wonders.

Better quality than before

On the other hand, the president of the Association of Small Independent Breweries of Serbia, Dejan Smiljanic, points out that currently, according to his court, the quality of the beer is much better than before.

“Beer production has always been correct and safe from a hygienic and sanitary point of view, but now the quality of its flavor has increased. This applies to all three branches of production: industrial, which produces large quantities of standardized flavor beer, then medium-sized breweries, which include our privatized breweries that have somehow retained the old technology and practice of using raw materials, but they face numerous economic problems. and finally to craft beers that provide a fullness of special flavor “, Smiljanić points out for our portal.

Illustration: Depositphotos, belchonock

The craft beer industry is in big trouble due to the pandemic The president of the Association of Small Independent Breweries of Serbia, Dejan Smiljanic, warns that small breweries are in a dramatic situation. “Kraft beer has been developing for the past few years and in 2017, 2018, it ‘exploded.’ However, the current coronavirus pandemic has greatly aggravated the situation. Our market is limited to catering and festivals, which now, as we know, are in crisis, and due to the economic and technical aspects of warehousing, it is impossible for us to sell merchandise in large stores. Many breweries have stopped production and a large percentage of them produce drastically less. We are trying to bring all the producers, small, medium and large, together into a general organization, and I would like to be successful in that, because that way we could take a unified position on that issue. I hope that the authorities also have an understanding of the craft beer industry as one that offers attractive and more luxurious products and thus completes the country’s tourism offer, ”says Smiljanić.

When asked how to recognize the quality of the beer, our interlocutor says that a good drink is one that “does not cause us problems afterwards” in terms of headaches and other unwanted health problems.

“The standards force all producers to do good things, but I am always in favor of craft beer, which, in fact, is nothing new, this is how the production process used to go. Young people are always more open to kraft beer, but there are frequent comments from the older population, who react to them with the comment ‘Well, that’s the beer we used to drink,’ ”he explains.

Compared to world trends, Smiljanic says that more or less all production models apply in our country as well.

“The reactions we received from foreign guests showed us that this is – that our quality does not lag behind that of more developed countries. It is important to mention the following: for beer to be of better quality, we have to drink it more, that is, the more beer is consumed, the fresher it reaches consumers and thus the better ”, concludes our interlocutor.

The causes of possible failures in the production, distribution and storage of beer, Smiljanic adds, lie in the fact that this is an easily perishable commodity, and that large industries have an advantage in that sense, because they extend the life of your product.

“However, small producers must take into account where they store their goods, at what temperature. That is why they focus on sales in restaurants and festivals. Even in the region, the situation is not much better when it comes to retail, in these retail chains more lightly craft beer is sold, and even then it is usually the beer that is cleaned of ingredients that shorten its life. In neighboring countries, kraft beer is sold more frequently in specialized stores, which are unfortunately underrepresented in our country ”, he explains.

What do the inspections say?

The Ministry of Commerce, Tourism and Telecommunications observes that the quality control of beer is not covered by the competences of the Market Inspection Sector, but by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management.

“The market inspection sector conducts periodic inspections in accordance with the annual inspection plan, which is based on the situation in the field of risk assessment and supervision. The annual plan, which is published publicly on the website of the Ministry, includes inspection controls on the sale of goods from various aspects, to name just a few, possession of the prescribed contracting documents, registration of transactions, protection of the rights of intellectual property, consumer protection and the like. Likewise, the inspection initiates extraordinary inspection procedures based on reports, requests and initiatives from the public and the economy. In this sense, we highlight that the Market Inspection carries out the supervision of inspection on the trade of goods in commerce, but does not control the hospitality industry, ”they told B92.net from this institution.

Illustration: Depositphotos, NatashaFedorova

Doesn’t anyone smuggle beer? “As the basic motive for smuggling some goods is profit, based on the difference in price of certain goods in different markets, and taking into account that customs officials have not found beer seizures in practice, the conclusion is that smugglers are not interested in such expensive liquors, such as whiskey, cognac or national brand spirits, which our customs officers discover with relative frequency at border crossings ”, they affirm for our Customs Administration portal. Remember that in passenger traffic in the Republic of Serbia you can freely bring 1 liter of brandy, or 1 liter of sparkling and liqueur wines, or a suitable combination of these drinks and 1 liter of other wines, or alcohol (even beer) , in quantities for personal use. use during a particular trip. As regulations differ from one country to another, the Customs Administration always advises that our citizens are informed before traveling about the most important rules that are followed when entering or leaving these countries.

According to the Market Inspection, the beer turnover, as indicated, from the aspect of preventing the shadow economy (unregistered work, trade in goods without acquisition documents, not issuing invoices for goods sold) does not entail a high risk, that is, this inspection is not aware of beer, nor has it received reports from economic entities and natural persons that illegal trade in beer is carried out in the market of the Republic of Serbia.

“In the protection of intellectual property rights (” sale of counterfeit beer “), repeals of the Law of special powers for the effective protection of intellectual property rights, the right holders did not submit applications for the protection of the rights of intellectual property of any brand of beer. We observed that during this year, in the procedure of periodic and extraordinary inspections of unregistered entities carried out by the Market Inspection Sector, no beer was found and therefore it was not seized, “they said.

In addition, this ministry recommended that consumers buy goods, including beer, from a registered merchant who will issue an invoice for each purchase.

“A registered trader (entrepreneur, legal person) is obliged to act in accordance with the law and good business practices, as well as the rules of that particular profession,” they recalled.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management states that the agricultural inspection activity is carried out in accordance with a multi-year plan of official controls, which is based on the evaluation of priorities and importance of certain activities, monitoring, results of previous controls and risk analysis generally performed. Regarding the controls of the beer producers and traders, the agricultural inspection performs on average between 50 and 60 controls on the producers and between 500 and 600 controls on the beer traders.

“All beer producers generally comply with production conditions, with minor corrections for mini breweries. In the case of beer merchants, the inspection only establishes the expiration date indicated in the producer’s declarations. The inspection puts those products out of circulation and sanctions the traffickers with punitive measures, ”they say from this institution.

They add that there were sporadic cases in which citizens complained about beer merchants, mainly due to the aforementioned expiration of the deadline set in the producer’s statement.

“The general assessment, seen from the point of view of the agricultural inspection, and based on the results of the annual checks, is that the correct beer is consumed on the market of the Republic of Serbia, as regards its quality” , concluded the ministry.