In a follow-up to yesterday’s Hetq story regarding the U.S. banning the importation of a certain type of Lori Cheese from Gyumri, Armenia’s Ministry of Agriculture’s Food Safety Inspectorate claims that the cheese in question passed a safety exam on June 17 of this year.

When asked why the United States Food and Drug Administration recently blocked the cheese, the Inspectorate was at a loss to offer an explanation.

“All we can state is that we granted the cheese a safety certificate based on the results of a lab analysis. A sample of the cheese was taken and it passed. The cheese was then shipped in biulk by air to the U.S.,” the Inspectorate reported.

Surprisingly, the Inspectorate refused to name the laboratory where the testin took place, arguing that it was a secret.

“It’s a stipulation in the contract we have with the lab. We can’t provide any information,” the Inspectorate claimed.

On September 13, the FDA published a list of cheeses imported from various countries that based on FDA sampling and analyses appear to contain microbiological contamination.

The list states that the Lori cheese in question, manufactured by AMM LLC, appears to contain Escherichia coli (Typical).