Issuance of Slaughterhouse Certificates Not Based on Actual Slaughtering is Excluded: Head of the Food Safety Inspection Body

At present, based on our logic and oversight, the issuance of any slaughterhouse certificate not based on actual slaughtering is excluded. This was stated by Armen Hayrapetyan, the head of the Food Safety Inspection Body, during a press conference, in response to a question about how slaughtering is enforced in slaughterhouses when not all regions have them and some slaughterhouses operate under unhygienic conditions.

According to the head of the FSIB, constant monitoring is conducted, and they respond to alerts received through a hotline. He noted that as of 2023, there have been 101 slaughterhouses, whereas that number was 99 in 2022. However, the dynamics are, in his opinion, slow.

'Oversight has been conducted over 271 slaughterhouses, and violations have been detected in about 34 percent of them,' Hayrapetyan added, informing that they have also started using tools in the implementation of slaughterhouse practices.

'All slaughter processes are recorded on video, and a slaughterhouse certificate can be issued only if the slaughtering process has been videotaped. The second important tool is stamping, the presence of which on the meat allows for the identification of whether the meat specified in the veterinary certificate is the same as what is being sold,' emphasized the head of the FSIB.