Eyub Huseynov: Food safety remains a serious problem

Baku/18.07.17/Turan: There are serious problems in the issue of food safety in Azerbaijan, since there is no corresponding law, stated in the interview to the program "Сətin Sual" by the chairman of the Association of Free Entrepreneurs Eyub Huseynov. In his opinion, the indicator of the current situation is the queues in pharmacies, although such things do not happy in any other country. "Once again I want to recall Hippocrates, who stated that "we are what we eat," Huseynov said. He recalled that in February of this year, President Ilham Aliyev signed a decree on the establishment of the "Agency for Food Security", which once again proves the existence of problems in this area.

As for the availability to seafood, varieties of fish and black caviar for the Azerbaijani citizen, Eyub Huseynov advised to visit the "Teze Bazaar" market in Baku. Here you can see for yourself how different maritime products illegally caught in the Caspian are offered in the market. There are also specialized stores, in which, along with natural, artificial caviar is also traded. For ordinary people, such a delicacy is not available.

As for the value of black caviar produced in Azerbaijan, its kilogram is just over 1500 manat. Artificial caviar is imported from Astrakhan. Eyub Huseynov spoke about artificial caviar as an undesirable product. He said that the structure headed by him was able to ensure that labels from the sturgeon were removed from the container of artificial caviar produced in Azerbaijan.

Speaking about the prices for various types of sturgeon, Eyub Huseynov noted that for ordinary citizens, prices are not available. In specialized stores, the price of 1 kg of sturgeon is about 50 manats. As for the illegal catch of sturgeon, the prices are not low for this product either. One kilogram of fish caught poaching costs about 40 manats, and it is sold, in addition, in unsanitary conditions. Consumers complain that being residents of the seaside city, they can not afford fish that has become scarce.

When asked whether the food products imported form foreign countries meet hygiene norms, Eyub Huseynov said that there is a danger in many goods. As an example, he cited the material that came to them recently in connection with the imported "Qualiko" chickens from Ukraine. The situaion was ambiguous. Some state authorities "blessed" the sale of these chickens in the domestic market, while others - found in these chickens the excess of the norm of veterinary medicines, and so on. "With regret, it should be noted that business structures use the fact of the lack of a law on food security and use the situation to their advantage," Huseynov said.

He recalled that five years ago the Azerbaijani hazelnut, sent to Europe, was returned back, because there were found lorotoxin fungi there. Then, serious work was done in the framework of EU projects. Two products were aligned with the "hats" system. This is black caviar, fish and fish products, as well as hazelnuts, nuts. But in the domestic market, this product is sold with all its dangerous parameters. Before the created Product Safety Agencies, this question is put seriously. The products must be subjected to strict control from the field to the consumer's table, said Huseynov.-06D--