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Armenia’s State Service for Food Safety refutes media reports alleging Azerbaijani watermelon has been imported into Armenia, and states that the country has imported watermelon of solely Georgian and Russian origin in recent months.

“Mass media reported that in these days large quantities of watermelons, which may be of Azerbaijani origin, have ended up in the Armenian agricultural market.

“We would like to inform that in July-August of the ongoing year, watermelons were imported into Armenia exclusively from Georgia and Russia, totalling to 1,327 tons, of which 781 tons were imported only over the past one week,” the service said in a statement on Tuesday.

The food safety body says documents for the watermelons imported from these two countries confirm that they are of Russian and Georgian origin, adding the media reports fail to present any grounds that the watermelons have Azerbaijani origin.

The service reminds that the imported fruits and vegetables undergo mandatory phytosanitary inspections at the border control checkpoints of Armenia.