ArmInfo. The Food Safety Inspectorate (FSI) responded to statements about the ban on export of Armenian products to Russia, and also responded to concerns about the sale of products banned from export on the local market. Earlier, Garnik Danielyan, a member of the RA parliament from the Hayastan faction, stated with reference to a group of exporters that the Armenian side has been preventing the export of agricultural products to Russia for a week now.
According to him, the Armenian side is implementing enhanced phytosanitary control, not allowing the export of fruits or vegetables, which is why trucks are standing at the Bagratashen checkpoint for several days, hundreds of tons of fruits and vegetables are spoiled, and farmers, already mired in debt, find themselves in a difficult situation. "Some exporters rightly state that if the same agricultural products do not meet standards, then why are they sold on the Armenian market, why do they remember about laboratory testing only in the case of export to the foreign market," he noted.
The IOFPP called the information about the ban absolute misinformation and untrue. The export of only those goods from Armenia in which quarantine pests have been detected is prohibited, their number is very small and a small percentage of vehicles stop at the border point <for entire days>. The batches of agricultural products in them are already spoiled and of poor quality for export from an agricultural point of view, so parking on site cannot be the cause of new damage, the department explained.
"The RA Food Safety Inspectorate, not weekly, but in general, in accordance with its function, exercises control over the products of phytosanitary control, fruits and vegetables exported from Armenia, taking samples of each exported batch and sending it for laboratory testing in order to determine contamination with harmful quarantine organisms>, they emphasized.
It is reported that given the seasonal activity of exported goods, the National Center for Veterinary, Sanitary and Phytosanitary Laboratory Service of the IOBPP has recently been working on Saturdays and Sundays in order to reduce the time of stopping exported goods and conduct inspections as soon as possible.
"As for the concern that <if the same agricultural products do not meet the standards, then why are they sold on the Armenian market?>, we inform you that organisms harmful to quarantine are not dangerous to human life and health, but may pose a threat to the agriculture of the exporting country.
According to the same logic, agricultural products imported to Armenia are also controlled in order to protect our country's agriculture from plant diseases. In general, the IOBPP control in this area has been tightened for the domestic market as well," the statement reads.
The department also noted that as a result of the IOBPP border control, many batches of agricultural products receive a phytosanitary certificate, and hundreds of vehicles not only cross the Armenian border in a matter of hours, but also very quickly and without obstacles cross the Georgian-Russian border point of Upper Lars.
"As a result of such control, in the first half of 2024, the number of phytosanitary discrepancies in goods exported from our country decreased tenfold compared to 2023. As a result, there are no difficulties with imports to Russia and other countries, which directly contributed to the increase in the volume of exported goods," the department noted.
