Armenia’s Food Safety Inspectorate rejects Rosselkhoznadzor’s claims over dairy exports to Russia

Armenia’s Food Safety Inspectorate has rejected Rosselkhoznadzor’s claim that inspections carried out in Armenia found that dairy products exported to Russia were produced using milk from diseased animals.

On July 24, Russia’s Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) announced restrictions on imports of dairy products from Armenia. The Russian agency said the decision was based on the alleged finding that inspections at several Armenian dairy producers had revealed the use of milk from diseased animals in the production of dairy products.

Responding to the statement, the Food Safety Inspectorate said it regularly carries out inspections at all dairy production facilities in Armenia under its annual inspection programme and on the basis of consumer complaints.

“If non-compliance is identified during inspections, the Inspectorate suspends the production activities of the relevant facility until the violations are remedied, while hazardous batches are withdrawn from circulation and destroyed.

Although the Russian side has not yet provided the results of the joint inspections conducted by specialists from Rosselkhoznadzor and the Food Safety Inspectorate at four Armenian dairy enterprises from July 14 to 21 this year, we can state that the inspections found no evidence that those facilities had used milk from diseased animals or raw materials imported from other countries.

According to the submitted documentation, the raw materials used in production had undergone laboratory testing and were confirmed to be safe.

The Inspectorate remains committed to ensuring that the entire food production chain complies with the requirements established by food safety legislation,” the statement said.