How Much Meat Has Been Seized by the Regulatory Authority

Nearly one ton of meat has been seized and will be destroyed, said Anush Harutyunyan, spokesperson for the State Service for Food Safety (SSFS), in an interview with Aysor.am.

According to Harutyunyan, the law stipulates that the SSFS has the authority to seize and destroy meat that is not of slaughterhouse origin, and the procedures for its implementation were established this fall. "The basis is the law and the established procedures: to seize and destroy," Harutyunyan stated.

Addressing complaints from meat vendors about the duration since the SSFS last conducted inspections and the sudden decision to carry out inspections now, Harutyunyan noted, “There is no such thing. Every time we enter the ‘Gumi’ market, a similar story unfolds. The SSFS is not obligated to notify about inspections; they know they are only allowed to sell meat from slaughterhouses. Since the law was established, we regularly conduct these same inspections everywhere. There is no place where seizures have not occurred.”

The SSFS representative explained the reason behind such a tense situation: “We mainly go during working hours, and they manage to receive the meat and keep the corresponding parts. This time, a decision was made to go a little earlier when the meat had just arrived at the Khorenatsi market, and you saw what the situation was like. There was not even one store that would open the door and say, ‘Come and see, I only have slaughterhouse meat.’”

He assured that the suspicions of citizens regarding the destruction of the seized meat are unfounded. “You can calmly go and see how it is being destroyed. There is a transporting organization and a seizing authority, which is the SSFS. We conduct the inspections, seize, seal, and hand over to the transporting company, which does not have the right to open it because the burning organization will not accept it.”