A consumer rights organisation in Armenia says laboratory tests found microbiological irregularities in dairy products from 11 domestic producers, including coliform bacteria in milk, sour cream, and cheese. The findings, which authorities have not confirmed, come three months after a Russian ban on Armenian dairy imports.
Although the consumer group’s findings, published on 30 October concern domestic food safety, the results emerge against a politically charged backdrop of Russia’s ban on Armenian dairy imports from 27 July. Russia’s Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) banned the imports, citing alleged ‘milk from infected livestock’. Rosselkhoznadzor also claimed that Armenia lacks a system to confirm the origin and safety of dairy raw materials and fails to monitor agricultural producers.
The dairy ban followed Russian restrictions on Armenian alcohol, flowers, fruit, vegetables, mineral water, and fish. They began before the June parliamentary elections in Armenia. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Aleksei Overchuk has denied introducing any restrictions, calling it ‘usual normal work’.
Babken Pipoyan, the chair of the NGO Informed and Protected Consumer, presented the results in a press briefing. The tests were part of Inclusive Public Control, an initiative the organisation launched to examine the dairy market.
According to Pipoyan, samples came from local dairy producers in Marianna, Ashtarak Kat, Eremyan Products, Tamara and Ani, Marila, Milkin, Bonilat, Biokat, Chanakh, Arzni Katnamterk, and Igit. Most were sampled for milk, sour cream, and cottage cheese.
The samples went to three laboratories that the organisation describes as ‘internationally accredited’: the State Laboratory Services Centre, a state non-commercial organisation within the Food Safety Inspectorate, plus the private FDA Laboratory and Standard Dialog Laboratory.
The test found coliform bacteria, an indicator group commonly used to flag hygiene problems, in 3.2% fat milk from Ashtarak Kat, sour cream from Eremyan Products (25% fat), Arzni Katnamterk (20%), and Bonilat (17%), cottage cheese from nine producers: Tamara and Ani (7%), Marianna (9%), Ashtarak Kat (7%), Eremyan Products (12%), Milkin (9%), Bonilat (9%), Biokat (12%), Chanakh (7%), and Arzni Katnamterk (9%) and Igit’s chechil cheese sticks in 240-gram packs.
Cottage cheese samples also showed deviations in other indicators. Yeast and mould levels were abnormal in products from Bonilat, Tamara and Ani, Arzni Katnamterk, Chanakh, Marila, and Biokat. Lactic acid bacteria levels deviated in samples from Marianna, Chanakh, Marila, and Milkin.
Neither the inspectorate nor the named companies have commented. OC Media has not independently verified the findings.
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