Snezana Barjaktarovic-Labovic
Institute of Public Health of Montenegro
Montenegro
Snezana Barjaktarovic-Labovic is an Assistant Professor in the field of nutrition with extensive academic and professional experience in public health, food safety, and dietotherapy. She has been involved in higher education since 2015, teaching at the Faculty of Food Technology, Food Safety and Ecology and, since 2016, at the Faculty of International Hospitality and Management at the University of Donja Gorica. From 2017 to 2018, she lectured at the Higher Medical School in Berane and has been engaged with the Department of Hygiene at the Faculty of Medicine since 2021. Between 1998 and 2021, she worked at the Health Center in Bar, gaining experience in pediatrics, general medicine, emergency medical services, and later in the Hygiene and Epidemiology Service after completing her hygiene specialization in 2007. In 2013, she completed a sub-specialization in dietotherapy. From 2016 to 2021, she coordinated the Department of Hygiene and Health Ecology. Since 2021, she has been employed at the Institute of Public Health of Montenegro, where she currently serves as an Acting Director. She is also Montenegro’s national focal point for food safety. In 2003, she pursued postgraduate education in food safety at the University of La Sapienza in Rome and continues to participate in professional training programs in nutrition and food safety. She has been actively involved in numerous national and international scientific and research projects. Among the most notable are two large-scale dietary studies coordinated by her and supported by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA): EU MENU – National Dietary Survey on the general population (ages 10–74) and EU MENU – Children’s Survey (ages 1–9). She also participated in the WHO-supported Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative (COSI) in 2016 and 2018. She contributed to projects funded by the Montenegrin Ministry of Science, including INNOFOODLAB – Establishment of a Laboratory for Innovations in Food Production, and a study on metal distribution in soil and its impact on children’s health. She was the project manager of HEPSC – Healthy Eating in Pre- School Children, supported through the IPA Interreg CBC HR-BA-ME 2014–2020 program. Currently, she is working on a national study on the prevalence of vitamin and mineral deficiencies in the diet of the Montenegrin population, with a focus on children, pregnant women, and women of reproductive age, in collaboration with the Health Center Podgorica and supported by UNICEF. She is a member of the Medical Chamber of Montenegro, the Scientific Network of the Ministry of Science, the Food and Nutrition Society of Montenegro, and the Nutrition Society of Serbia. Additionally, she is a certified court expert in hygiene and has served on several national committees for drafting food safety regulations.