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Upon his return from Minsk, expert on food safety Dr. David Pipoyan expressed his admiration for Belarus and disappointment at Armenia.   The Belarus Institute of Metrology held an event for donor organizations to discuss diversification of European, Eurasian and Georgian export markets.

Pipoyan was participating in the event as European law expert. He was expected to speak about the peculiarities of European markets, but other participants, namely Ukrainian, Georgian and Belarus experts and businessmen were also interested to get first-hand information about Armenia’s expertise and peculiarities.

“Interestingly, during the process of European integration, Armenia officially approved a concept of food safety strategy, based on which it carried out a large project of reforms, but in reality the worst situation exists here,” Pipoyan told Panorama.am.

According to him, Belarus did not reduce the number of inspectorates and their functions – the same function can be fulfilled by health ministry, veterinary inspectorate or some other body. “This, however, did not stop them from being qualified and having a production culture,” he noted.

Representatives of Ukraine and Georgia said during the event that their countries were following a European path, with programs on the introduction of European standards being implemented, but in Belarus, standards are more in line with European ones, and European standards have been introduced at more enterprises than in Georgia and Ukraine.

The partners and businessmen asked the Armenian expert questions about the package of food safety reforms and their results.

“Unfortunately, the reality is that we lack producers who meet international standards, nor do we have  nationally guaranteed criteria for laboratory tests or quality attestation agencies in line with international standards, which shows that the abovementioned strategy was not carried out here. It is a negative thing for Armenia, especially in terms of diversification of international markets - many markets will remain closed to Armenian businessmen, “ Pipoyan noted.

He was also asked to tell about the efficiency of inspections and the protection of consumer rights. “Many poisoning cases were reported here this year. We constantly speak about risk-based inspections , but people ask us a simple question: What risk-based inspections are you talking about when in your country slaughter is conducted in yards? Within a few years neighboring Georgia has managed to establish control over slaughters and now a state veterinary can exercise supervision. Here we have a state of neglect, animals are not numbered, and one can consume defrosted meat without being aware of that”.    

During his trip to Belarus, the Armenian expert on European law was surprised to see processed foodstuffs sorted by category of raw products. After visiting several supermarkets as a consumer, he made sure that no one wanted to cheat him, salespersons provided him with detailed information, and the prices were different.   

“Experts told me that in 2016 they will stop producing grade B milk. One has difficulty finding grade B milk in Armenia because there is no appropriate equipment. In Belarus the milking is organized at large farms, they have preserved kolkhozes, while in Armenia livestock farming is decentralized, with a low level of state control, while animals are not numbered. As a result, Belarus has a highly developed consumer market and production, while in Armenia diseases and poisoning cases are on the rise,” he said.

David Pipoyan expressed an opinion that solution of the problems has nothing to do with the availability or lack of funds.

“The sphere requires serious professional knowledge. In this sense Armenia does not have exemplary experience to be displayed to the international community because people lacking both professional knowledge and experience hold posts today. This is not the case in Belarus,” he said.

According to Pipoyan, out of the five chiefs who have headed the food safety body in Armenia so far, only one had received an education relevant to the sphere. Besides, non-experts represent Armenia at discussions of such problems.

“I realized that in Armenia there is no desire to improve. If those responsible for the sphere have no desire, many and many excuses can be found. In order to have a desire, one has to be a good expert and a patriot who loves the state and people,” he said adding that following the poisoning cases reported in kindergartens and schools, the officials should have been racked with guilt instead of publishing justifications in the media.

“I often visit European countries, and I never have such a feeling when I return from there. I expect Europe to be Europe. But when I go to Belarus which used to be in the same state as our country and when I see that people preserved what was good in the past and then I see that nothing was created in Armenia after the good things were destroyed, I feel disappointment. There can be no comparison,” he said.