"Fact" daily writes:
Several groups have been created on social networks, particularly on Facebook, which, according to their name, are related to "food safety". On those pages, various citizens publish photos, make notes about allegedly finding "stone iron", poor quality, or other apparent violations in various Armenian products.
However, the question is that the majority of those photos and notes, firstly, have absolutely no proof, and secondly, it is noteworthy that the overwhelming majority of them are related to the leading and most famous brands in Armenia. It is no coincidence that many people have the impression that these posts are a means of self-presentation or an attempt to intentionally discredit the mentioned companies. There are suspicions that some with such posts are trying to get one or another company to contact them.
And with what expectation, we leave it to the reader. Otherwise, if there really was a problem, people would turn to the relevant authorities, primarily the Food Safety Inspection Authority. Instead, we have turned to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, asking them to answer whether the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications "goes" after such information, and if so, what part of such "alerts" have been proven. Anush Harutyunyan, the head of the department of information, consultation and work with the public, SATM, also confirmed that we are really talking about big organizations and famous brands, and in their case, there simply cannot be such problems.
He also mentioned that, yes, such photos can often not be normal. "Basically, the SATM does not go after such information, because it is simply not possible to prove them. We cannot take the food that a person has as a basis, we have to see it on the spot, study it and understand if there is such a problem or not. After all, when some physical problems are found in food, it means violations of sanitary and hygienic norms. If we are talking about famous productions, large companies, which we have checked regularly, many times, we will certainly not go there, because we know what their sanitary and hygienic conditions, production lines, etc. are like.
In other words, it makes no sense to go there, once again spend resources and make sure that the sanitary and hygienic conditions are normal, because the pipelines have already been checked, and it is simply not possible to detect such problems there," said Harutyunyan. At the same time he added: "If there are cases where food of unknown production is presented to us from a place unknown to us, especially if that organization is not registered in the database of food chain operators, we try to definitely respond, at least to be there to understand what the sanitary and hygienic norms are.
If they are true, the business operator is fined at least because he is not registered in the database of food chain operators, which is his responsibility and is imposed by the Law on Food Safety.
Moreover, we often see that those organizations that avoid registration also have problems with sanitary and hygienic norms. And in that case, appropriate steps are taken."
Let's add that, according to our observations, such photos themselves are quite suspicious, moreover, even under these publications, most of the comments show skepticism about their veracity. In other words, this is one of those cases where, especially in the case of well-known brands, such "alarms" and amateur-level publications should not be taken seriously, but only the reactions and statements of competent bodies, in particular, the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, should be followed.
Details in today's issue of "Past" daily.
