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Finger Licking Good? Getamej Chickens Show Unacceptable Salmonella Levels
Sara Petrosyan
http://hetq.am/eng/articles/23996/finger-licking-good?-getamej-chickens-show-unacceptable-salmonella-levels.html
21:30, March 1, 2013
Laboratory testing of chickens sold under the "Getamej" brand revealed
higher than accepted levels of salmonella.
The tests were conducted at the RA Ministry of Agriculture's Food
Safety Inspectorate's laboratory. The results were published on
February 14.
Vahe Khalatyan, who heads the Kotayk Regional Center of the State Food
Safety Inspectorate, has written that a spot inspection of 300 kilos
of broilers produced by the "Grig el Met" company did not correspond
to storage standards or labelling laws and thus the sale of the
product was stopped until the end of lab testing.
Inspections are on-going at the Getamej poultry plant and are tasked
with locating the source of the salmonella. Plant workers say that the
operations of the "Grig el Met" company might be shut down as a result
of the findings.
The Food Safety Inspectorate says that the entire operation id being
monitored and that each batch of chickens is being tested.
The Investigative Journalists NGO hatched the idea of coverage the
inside operations of various poultry plants in Armenia. We wanted to
study the production facilities, especially from a food safety
perspective, and to see whether genetically modified organisms were
showing up in the lab tests.
On the orders of Food Safety State Services (FSSS) Chief Abram
Bakhchakoulyan, the monitoring team included Sergey Stepanyan
(President of Armenia's Union of Poultry Producers), FSSS regional
inspectors and Armen Poghosyan, President of the Consumers' Union of
Armenia, NGO.
We weren't able to visit all the poultry plants in Armenia, just the
four largest ones - Black Star (Lousakert brand), Grig el Met
(Getamej), the Baghramyan poultry plant owned by Gzhouk Ltd. and the
Araks Poultry Plant CJSC.
Grig el Met was the second site that we visited. The staff wasn't all
that welcoming and didn't give much importance to our visit.
Grig el Met was the only plant that we visited where the production
workers weren't wearing the required work clothes and where
unauthorized people were seen entering and exiting the plant, thus
violating hygiene laws.
The factory actually reminded me more of a family-run operation that
the second largest poultry plant in Armenia. Most of the operation,
>From start to finish, was conducted in a very unhygienic environment.
The experts in our group said it was no wonder that unacceptable
traces of salmonella were to be found in the chickens coming off the
assembly line. There was inadequate ventilation in the plant and the
exhaust system was ineffective as well.
Right now, Getamej is in the process of going out of business due to
financial problems.
Photos and video by Saro Baghdasaryan and Ararat Davtyan
Sara Petrosyan
http://hetq.am/eng/articles/23996/finger-licking-good?-getamej-chickens-show-unacceptable-salmonella-levels.html
21:30, March 1, 2013
Laboratory testing of chickens sold under the "Getamej" brand revealed
higher than accepted levels of salmonella.
The tests were conducted at the RA Ministry of Agriculture's Food
Safety Inspectorate's laboratory. The results were published on
February 14.
Vahe Khalatyan, who heads the Kotayk Regional Center of the State Food
Safety Inspectorate, has written that a spot inspection of 300 kilos
of broilers produced by the "Grig el Met" company did not correspond
to storage standards or labelling laws and thus the sale of the
product was stopped until the end of lab testing.
Inspections are on-going at the Getamej poultry plant and are tasked
with locating the source of the salmonella. Plant workers say that the
operations of the "Grig el Met" company might be shut down as a result
of the findings.
The Food Safety Inspectorate says that the entire operation id being
monitored and that each batch of chickens is being tested.
The Investigative Journalists NGO hatched the idea of coverage the
inside operations of various poultry plants in Armenia. We wanted to
study the production facilities, especially from a food safety
perspective, and to see whether genetically modified organisms were
showing up in the lab tests.
On the orders of Food Safety State Services (FSSS) Chief Abram
Bakhchakoulyan, the monitoring team included Sergey Stepanyan
(President of Armenia's Union of Poultry Producers), FSSS regional
inspectors and Armen Poghosyan, President of the Consumers' Union of
Armenia, NGO.
We weren't able to visit all the poultry plants in Armenia, just the
four largest ones - Black Star (Lousakert brand), Grig el Met
(Getamej), the Baghramyan poultry plant owned by Gzhouk Ltd. and the
Araks Poultry Plant CJSC.
Grig el Met was the second site that we visited. The staff wasn't all
that welcoming and didn't give much importance to our visit.
Grig el Met was the only plant that we visited where the production
workers weren't wearing the required work clothes and where
unauthorized people were seen entering and exiting the plant, thus
violating hygiene laws.
The factory actually reminded me more of a family-run operation that
the second largest poultry plant in Armenia. Most of the operation,
>From start to finish, was conducted in a very unhygienic environment.
The experts in our group said it was no wonder that unacceptable
traces of salmonella were to be found in the chickens coming off the
assembly line. There was inadequate ventilation in the plant and the
exhaust system was ineffective as well.
Right now, Getamej is in the process of going out of business due to
financial problems.
Photos and video by Saro Baghdasaryan and Ararat Davtyan