YEREVAN, OCTOBER 9, NOYAN TAPAN. The State Food Safety and Veterinary Inspection of the RA Ministry of Agriculture consucted checks at 1,100 economic entities of Armenia in January-September 2008. The inspection head Grisha Baghian said at the October 9 press conference that as a result of the checks, some economic entities were subjected to administrative responsibility. The total amount of fines made 45 million drams (about 150 thousand USD), exceeding by 12 million drams the amount of fines imposed in the same period of 2007. According to G. Baghian, among the most widespread violations are the sale of old foodstuffs, as well as foodstuffs without the required marking, certificates and the necessary technological instructions. Following the checks, some shops were closed down, and the sale of certain meat products was banned. As a result of the checks, 27 tons of dairy products and 7 tons of meat products were disposed of, the same amount of meat products was sent from the check point back to Georgia. Besides, 6 tons of fish, 26 thousand bottles of beer and 12 thousand bottles of vodka were disposed of. G. Baghian said that the inspection is conducting checks at comprehensive schools and kindergartens as well. The checks revealed that the food given to kindergarten babies and that sold in school lunchrooms does not meet the food safety standards. The inspection head announced that numerous violations were disclosed within a week, and the directors of these educational institutions and the food-selling companies were warned to eliminate the shortcomings. The inspection will continue checks in November. It was mentioned that no checks were conducted in Armenia's schools and kindergartens in the past 20-25 years. In the words of G. Baghian, checks of the weight and quality of bread on sale in shops are underway, while the results will be announced in a month.

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