LOCAL FOODSTUFFS MORE USEFUL AND SAFER THAN THE IMPORTED – ARMENIAN EXPERT

YEREVAN, July 8. / ARKA /. Local made foodstuffs are safer and more
useful than the imported goods, head of Armenia’s National Association
of Consumers Melita Hakobyan said.

Local food has minimum shelf life, low concentration of preservatives
and supplements, she said. Apart from this, stricter control can
be implemented over domestic produce, she told a press conference
on Monday.

Imported goods often have a triple-extension of shelf life, and local
marking on them misleads consumers, she said.

The problem is that consumers do not demand observation of their
rights, but the situation is improving, she said.

The Association is getting 20 complaints every day on average, not
all of them on foodstuffs.

Often food intoxication is caused through shops’ and supermarkets’,
not the producers’ fault, as storage requirements are not kept,
Hakobyan said.

The head of the NGO recommended consumers not to buy melons and
water-melons before mid July as they do not ripen in a natural way
in Armenia before or to take them back to the shop if strange color
or white strips are found inside.

Almost no agricultural producer can provide a certificate as getting
it requires additional expenditures, Hakobyan said.

Deputy head of the association Mileta Aristakesyan said the new bill
about product marking and description is under development and will
give consumers an opportunity of getting more detailed information
about products they buy. -0–

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From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress