In accordance with the provisions of the Statute (latest revision during 2018), the Serbian Nutrition Society (hereinafter the Society) was established with the purpose of nurturing and improving the profession and applied science in the field of food processing, improvement and control of food quality, food safety and nutrition of the population of Serbia through multisectoral cooperation, organization and participation in national and international scientific and professional conferences, projects, educational seminars and workshops, publishing and other activities that enable the achievement of the set goals.

In its work, Society follows generally accepted social principles and universally recognized professional, scientific and ethical values. The Society, as a collective, as well as individual members of the Society, during cooperation with companies from the country or abroad, administrative bodies and other professional associations, should have a critical approach that will ensure that the cooperation is conducted in accordance with ethical principles in a transparent manner to avoid conflicts of interest.

Conflicts of interests synonymous for gain in cash or in other tangible or intangible compensation for performed activities that may cause interference, or the existence of reasonable doubt that interference has occurred, in the course of the application of generally accepted scientific and ethical principles in the conduct of business activities regarding the above-mentioned activities of the Society.

Members of the Society have the right to participate in studies and conferences financed by business entities, administrative bodies, and other professional associations or by writing professional articles for those entities, however, they are obliged to do so by following generally accepted scientific and ethical principles and in a transparent manner.

If the members of the Society participate in the implementation of certain programs of the administrative bodies, business entities and other professional associations, they cannot participate in activities of the Society that could lead to a conflict of interest, or a reasonable doubt that there is a conflict of interest, which does not mean that they cannot participate in other activities organized by the Society.

The most common situations that may lead the Society or its members in conflict of interest are:

1. Organization of expert meetings, congresses and conferences where premises and time for the presentation of sponsors are not clearly separated from the premises and time for the presentation of the results of scientific research;
2. Drafting and public presentation of positive opinion on the nutritional recommendation without provides evidence-based nutrition information and advice recommended by relevant national competent institutions and internationally recognized professional bodies and associations (national dietary guidelines and recommendations of the Ministry of health of the Republic of Serbia, Institute of Public Health of Serbia, World Health Organization, Panel on nutrition, dietetics and allergies of the European Food Safety Authority, European Cardiology Society, American Diabetes Association, etc.);
3. Drafting a positive opinion on the nutritional value of a food product or one or more of its ingredients without relevant evidence as required by the applicable law, with appropriate certificates of laboratory analysis and, where applicable, published scientific opinions by internationally recognized professional bodies and agencies such as the European Food Safety Agency, World Health Organization, Food and Agriculture Organization, etc.);
4. Writing professional opinions, projects, studies or papers and reviewing them commissioned by government departments, business entities and/or other professional associations where the methods and procedures applied are not in accordance with universal ethical principles and principles of scientific research work.

Recommendations

Expert conferences (congresses, seminars, courses, etc.)

• All members of the Scientific/Program Committee, chairmen of individual sessions and roundtables, as well as moderators of educational workshops must complete a statement on (conflict) of interest (whether they were engaged in activities financed by a business entity in the previous three years);
• On-call lecturers and experts, who have oral presentations at expert meetings and educational workshops, before beginning the presentation, it is necessary to indicate on the first slide what projects/programs and other activities they have participated in for the needs of a business entity, administrative bodies, and other professional associations in the previous three years;
• The person who chairs the expert meeting should not engage with the business entity in a way that could be a conflict of interest, ie. engagement that could have an impact on the drafting of the program of the expert meeting during its term;
• Persons employed or members of the board of directors or any other body of a business entity may not be members of the Scientific/Program Committee of expert meetings organized by the Society;
• The chairmen, lecturers and moderators of roundtables and educational workshops at an expert meeting should not, during the lecture and during the time predicted for discussion, state names of a product or business entity, or indirectly favour them, or interfere with the expression of expert opinions that could to be contrary to the interest of such business entity.

Satellite symposium

• Business entities have the right to organize a commercial/satellite symposium during specific professional conferences organized by the Society.
• The commercial symposium shall be presented in special premises, designated for that purpose;
• A commercial symposium shall take place in a defined time, which may not coincide with the scheduled expert session;
• Commercial advertising of a product shall not be part of a lecture or poster presentation at an expert meeting;
• The names of the experts participating in the satellite symposium shall be clearly indicated in the working material for the conference;
• All business entities participating in satellite symposia shall comply with industry/pharmaceutical and trade practices.

Work on editing and publishing The Food and Nutrition Journal

• Editorial Board members, authors, and reviewers of papers published in The Food and Nutrition Journal should comply with the recommendations of the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (including all biomedical sciences).
• All authors who would like to have their work published in The Food and Nutrition Journal are required to report all possible forms of conflict of interest, whether financial, commercial, personal, academic or political;
• Financial or other support for research and publication should be properly mentioned and acknowledged.

Financial support for the work of the Society

Financial support from business entities, administrative bodies and/or other associations for the work of the Society is allowed/legitimate. The amount of financial support/compensation has not been determined and represents a discretionary agreement and contract between the Society and the above mentioned entity.

Decision making on conflict of interest in special cases

Statement on the potential existence of a conflict of interest is often not sufficient to decide whether or not a conflict of interest exists. This particularly applies to the election of the chairman of the scientific or organizational committee of the expert meeting, the editor-in-chief of The Food and Nutrition Journal, the project manager, etc, therefore these statements shall be considered by the Executive Board of the Society.