HEALTH: Cyprus brushes off Swedish claim about “unsafe”” Halloumi”

Cyprus Veterinary Services director Christodoulos Pipis called Swedish claims about antibiotics in halloumi as “farcical”, arguing that this was a ruse by competitors to promote their own halloumi-type  cheese products.

He told CyBC on Friday that this is a continuation of a campaign that started three years ago, as Cyprus is frequently asked to provide clarifications.

Sweden has one of the highest halloumi consumption rates in Europe with imports rising from 21 tonnes in 2009 to 4000 tonnes in 2018.

Reports in Swedish presented Cyprus as the worst country in Europe regarding the widespread use of antibiotics in the farming of dairy animals.

They went as far as to blame Cyprus’ squeaky cheese for contributing to spreading the global threat to public health of microbial resistance to antibiotics.

Media quoting surveys and specialists’ reports urged consumers to keep away from halloumi.

Swedish agriculture newspaper LAND has published data on the administration of antibiotics to animals in 30 European countries so that "consumers can make right choices at the supermarkets".

Cyprus ranked first with 453.4 mg / PCU, followed by Spain, Italy and Portugal while Greece with 63.5 mg / PCU placed in 17th place and Sweden with 12.1 mg / PCU on the 28th. The lowest use of antibiotics in animals is reported by Norway with 2.9 mg / PCU.

"As a consumer you can influence through your choices and maybe it would be a good idea to avoid dairy and meat products from countries on the list," the newspaper advised.

Other Swedish reports quoted Anna Richert, a food expert at the World Wildlife Fund, who noted that Cyprus is the country that supplies the largest amount of antibiotics to farmed animals in Europe, and people need to know that there are issues with haloumi.

In fact, the WWF spokesperson was quoted in saying that eating halloumi is worse than eating meat, which more and more people choose not to eat.

However, TV station SVT noted that halloumi contains no antibiotics and is safe for consumption.