Croatian MEP Biljana Borzan (SDP) on Monday presented the results of a survey which asked Croatians about unfair trade practices in retail in terms of the quality and declarations of food products sold in the local market. The survey showed that Croatians are most skeptical about claims related to honey, meats, organically grown foods, and olive oil.

The poll also asked people to list things most important when choosing and buying food, and their perception of which products are most commonlysubject to manipulation in terms of their properties and origin. The survey, which polled 805 people this spring, also asked people to share their opinion on product declarations, and their design.

“Croatians can sense very well where they are being cheated the most,” Borzan told a press conference. More than 50 percent of people polled said they believed that there is cheating with honey products. This was followed by meats, at 49 percent, organic farming (45 percent), olive oil (38 percent), and cured meat (27 percent).

“Very often imported honey is counterfeit because it contains sugar syrup, which tastes and looks very similar to honey… It often turns out that organic food contains traces of substances that are not allowed in organic farming. Olive oil, like honey, can carry the label “mixture of EU/non-EU oils,” which is a loophole in EU legislation,” Borzan said.

Only 35 percent of respondents said they regularly read declarations before purchase, with majority not paying attention to them at all. The reason cited is that declarations are often “difficult to understand,” which 72 percent of those polled complained about.

Borzan called on people to read what is written on the declarations of cured meat products. They are declared as “domestic,” “Slavonian,” “Dalmatian,” while the fine print says the meat is from the EU, she added. “Retailers are very skillful in manipulating the fact that in all EU countries, including Croatia, more than 70 percent of shoppers prefer domestic products,” she said.

She added that the origin of the product must be “more clearly” indicated to consumers. Borzan said she would use the survey in her initiative to improve food legislation through the European Parliament, as part of the wider strategy called From Field to Fork which aims to make food sold in the EU healthier and more sustainable.