Egg producers claim they're being run out of business

Domestic egg producers organized a protest on Friday in front of the Veterinary Institute over unfair practices by government institutions. 

They say local producers are being systematically run out of business.

Over the past six months, they say that nearly half-a-million egg-laying hens have been destroyed at three farms over suspicious claims of salmonella.

Egg producer Marijan Lukač said that his workers have never been sick and that if the infection was as intense as the authorities claim, many of them would have succumbed.

"150,000 eggs go to market from my farms every day. There have never been any complaints. I doubt the truthfulness and credibility of these documents, especially in light of the fact that that the market is being cleared for one particular egg importer," said Lukač without naming the egg importer in question.

Andrea Humski, the head of the Veterinary Institute, shot back by saying "any doubts about the work and the credibility of the reports issued by the laboratory based on the received samples are completely baseless".

She added that Mr. Lukač had sent samples to external laboratories in Switzerland and Austria and received the exact same results.