Albanian customs officers have been blocking imports of flour from Kosovo for the past week after a directive from the country’s agriculture and consumer protection ministry was issued in the wake of recent heightened concerns across the Balkans about potentially harmful aflotoxins in food.

The Albanian authorities have asked for a certificate guaranteeing that flour and other products allowed into the country have an accepted level of aflatoxins.

Earlier this month, Kosovo blocked the import of milk from two Albanian dairies, Primalat and Fast, on the grounds that levels of the aflatoxin M1 were above EU standards.

Tirana however believes that the move was motivated by commercial interests rather than food safety concerns.

Aflatoxins are produced by mould and can damage human and animal health if they enter the food chain in significant concentrations. In the European Union, the legally permitted limit in milk is 0.5 micrograms per kilogramme.

Several trucks carrying flour from the Kosovo company M-Sillos have been stopped at the Albanian border over the past week.

Commenting on the situation on Friday, Kosovo’s ambassador to Tirana, Sulejman Selimi, called the ban on flour imports unfair.

“It’s the first time that the [M-Sillos] company has been required to provide a certificate on the level of aflatoxins,” Selimi said.

“Situations like these should not occur and we expect that it will be resolved soon,” he added.

Two weeks ago, Albania’s Foreign Minister Edmond Panariti and his Kosovo counterpart, Enver Hoxhaj, signed an economic cooperation protocol which aimed to resolve trade disputes between the neighbours.

In a statement on Thursday, the Albanian foreign ministry complained that despite the protocol, the food safety authorities on both sides of the border were still not cooperating.

“It is an institutional obligation, which follows on from the agreement between Albania and Kosovo, to provide information in an urgent manner about violations and concerns to the respective authorities before executive orders are enforced,” it said.

“It’s hasty, unjustified and unproductive that trade barriers and sequestrations of goods and services are carried out without first informing the relevant authorities,” it added.