Food Safety Inspectorate to continue enhanced control over origin of  meat on Armenia`s markets 

ArmInfo.  The Food Safety Inspectorate of Armenia (FSIA) intends to continue enhanced control over the origin of meat sold in retail outlets throughout the Republic.  According to the FSIA, as a result of monitoring, 1859.9 kg of non-slaughterhouse meat were seized and destroyed in the last 2 weeks alone.

In view of the situation, the Inspectorate calls on business entities  to comply with the requirements of regulatory acts, and citizens to  buy meat only after confirming its origin from a certified  slaughterhouse.

As ArmInfo was informed by the press service of the agency, the head  of the Inspectorate Tigran Petrosyan held a meeting with business  entities engaged in the sale of meat in retail outlets on Khorenatsi  Street. The latter presented the existing problems, stating that they  are ready to sell meat of slaughterhouse origin, but slaughterhouses  cannot provide the necessary volume, due to which they are forced to  purchase and sell meat obtained as a result of slaughtering animals  in yards. The entrepreneurs suggested finding a way in which  villagers would deliver animals to the slaughterhouse, rather than  calling a slaughterer to their yard.

Since December 2023, the government has decided to confiscate and  destroy meat sold at retail outlets that is not of slaughterhouse  origin. On August 1, 2024, the authorities approved a program to  support business entities providing slaughter services, according to  which slaughterhouse owners operating in the VAT field were to  receive state assistance in the form of tax breaks in Armenia. In  order to increase the role of slaughterhouses in the meat sales  chain, the RA government proposes to grant entities operating in the  VAT field the right to pay VAT at a discount until December 30, 2027.  When paying VAT on every 1 kilogram of meat sold, the state will  return 75% of the funds to slaughterhouses. Thus, as the then RA  Minister of Economy Gevorg Papoyan noted, conditions will be created  for entrepreneurs. However, support will not be provided in the event  that the sale of meat obtained from the slaughter of cattle belonging  to on-farm slaughterhouses that do not purchase farm animals, and to  persons who are founders or shareholders of the operator or members  of their families (parents, spouse, children) who own or exercise the  right of ownership or the right to operate the operator