Bacterial Contaminant Found in Grand Candy's Sandwich Ice Cream

In light of the seasonal increase in ice cream sales, the State Food Safety Inspection Body of Armenia has begun monitoring ice cream production facilities. Samples of ice cream were taken from 12 production sites, including 'Tamara', 'Grand Candy', 'Tamara and Ani', 'Martin Star', 'Artsvit', 'Nairi Land', 'Pink Berry', 'Marnik', 'Igith', 'Ashtarak Milk' LLC, as well as from individual entrepreneurs Azat Ghazanchyan and Eduard Karapetyan.

Today, the results of the laboratory tests for samples taken from the production facilities of 'Martin Star' and 'Grand Candy' companies were revealed. The samples from 'Grand Candy' LLC's products, including 'Sandwich' vanilla ice cream with chocolate cookie, 'Sandwich' chocolate ice cream with chocolate cookie, 'Vanilla Plombir', 'Cream Plombir' coated with glaze, and 'Chocolate Plombir' with milk fat, did not meet the established legislative norms for microbial contamination, specifically for coliform bacteria. The last sample also exhibited issues with the mesophilic aerobic facultative anaerobic bacteria.

Ice creams labeled as 'Family Chocolate', 'Family Vanilla', 'Eskimo Chocolate with glaze', and 'Eskimo Vanilla with glaze', which used a milk fat substitute, also failed to meet legal standards regarding the mass fraction of milk fat and for coliform bacteria, with the first two samples showing violations for mesophilic aerobic facultative anaerobic bacteria as well.

In contrast, no violations were recorded in the samples from 'Martin Star' LLC's products, including 'Waffle Cone Chocolate', 'Vanilla', 'Chocolate', 'Strawberry Sandwich', 'Eskimo Vanilla Chocolate-covered', and 'Bricket Chocolate', which use a milk fat substitute (trademark: 'Ot Martina').

Tests on ice cream from three additional companies are currently ongoing, and results will be published as soon as they are available.

Production activities of 'Grand Candy' LLC have been suspended, and deadlines have been set for addressing the identified violations. Withdrawal orders will be issued for the disposal or recall of these products from the market.

According to the Customs Union Technical Regulation on 'Dairy and Dairy Product Safety' (CU TR 033/2013), food products containing milk that substitute milk fat can replace it only with a maximum of 50% of milk fat substitutes. In the four ice creams produced by the operating entity, the mass fraction of milk fat was reported between 19-29%, categorizing them as dangerous and counterfeit food products.

Note: Food is considered counterfeit if its composition has been altered without corresponding labeling changes, if its labeling has been changed without corresponding composition alterations, if other substances have been added or processed with other substances to conceal non-compliance with established food safety requirements, or if its labeling contains incorrect information about the special purpose of the food product.

Information about the organization that recorded noncompliance regarding the mass fraction of milk fat will be provided to the Competition Protection Commission.

As a reminder, according to the Armenian Law on Food Safety, food that is unfit for human consumption and poses a threat to a person’s life and health when stored, prepared, used, served, and consumed is considered dangerous. The law prohibits the import, production, sale, or use of dangerous and counterfeit food products, as well as dangerous and counterfeit materials that come into direct contact with food.