Meat Sellers ‘Indignant’ as a Result of State Inspections

Meeting with journalists today, Grisha Baghiyan, head of the RA Ministry of Agriculture Food Safety and Veterinary State Inspectorate, said that various violations were found among the kiosks located across from the No. 2 market in Yerevan: meat that doesn’t meet the requirements of technical regulations, meat sold without the required necessary veterinary documents, violation related to the temperature (meat should be kept at), sanitary conditions not properly followed and other types of violations.    

Epress.am attempted to clarify the opinion of the employees of these kiosks on the matter. Seeing journalists in the vicinity, a man sitting on a chair in front of one of the kiosks inquired as to why we had arrived, then said that he is the owner of the kiosk he was sitting in front of. Not wanting to identify himself, he allowed video to be shot, but first cautioned our cameraman not to film the meat that was outside the fridge, as well as the employee’s apron, because it was dirty. 

Furthermore, the man promised to track down our cameraman if he didn’t comply with his request.

The man said that he agreed with the results of the inspections, and, in his words, kiosk owners are working towards rectifying the situation. A majority of the kiosks in that area were undergoing construction work. 

According to the kiosk owner, after the state inspections, all the kiosks were shut down, but his kiosk was the first to re-open since there were practically no violations in his business. For example, his kiosk has the required fridge for the sale of meat and meets other conditions.

The next man Epress.am spoke to complained about the state department’s decision, saying it resulted in a number of issues for many families. During the discussion, a man, who appeared to be angry, approached us, asked us who we were and without waiting for a response, asked us to leave, calling us “doers of the state” (people who follow orders by the state). 

We weren’t able to explain that, through us, kiosk employees can also present their side of the story. Instead, the man with whom we were speaking urged us to approach the issue with understanding, since “people are indignant.”

We didn’t come across any other “obstacles,” though no one raised the issue of the meat sellers’ problems either. The meat sellers, with dirty aprons, were observing us filming, providing tips of where it would be more suitable to shoot, then viewing the raw material with interest.