A February 6, 2013 decision handed down by the RA Agriculture Ministry’s Food Safety Service (FSS) was supposed to have led to testing for genetically modified organisms (GMOs) and overall food safety in seven brands of frozen chicken and chicken parts imported to Armenia.

Of the seven brands of frozen chicken singled out for testing by the Inspectorate, three were to be found for sale at the Yerevan City supermarket at 60/2 Komitas Street in Yerevan. These were Sadia (frozen chicken griller), Frangosul (Doux frozen young chicken) and Polygrym (frozen chicken thighs).

The Yerevan City supermarket chain belongs to Samvel Aleksanyan. His Aleks Grig company is the only poultry importer in Armenia.

The sample meat was tested for bacteria, antibiotics and hormones. In two of the three samples tested by Standard Dialog for hormones, high levels of testosterone were found in Sadia (frozen chicken) and Doux (frozen grillers). Hormone levels in Polygrym chickens were within normal ranges.

In addition to experts from the FSS’s Yerevan office, at the suggestion of our Investigative Journalists NGO, also included in the inspection team were Sergei Stepanyan (President of Armenia’s Poultry Producers Union) and Armen Poghosyan (President of Armenia’s Union of Consumers).

The team was to also inspect for expiration dates, safety and quality control. The team uncovered inconsistencies between the original and Armenian labels on the Doux frozen grillers, the Sadia frozen chickens and the Polygrym frozen chicken legs. There was no Armenian labelling at all on the pre-packaged quarter chickens.

Davit Ghoulyan, of the State Food Safety Service Staff Deputy Head, said that higher than permitted hormone levels are considered dangerous  and that test results show that two of the above-mentioned chicken brands are dangerous food products and that appropriate action is being taken.

After the inspection ordered by FSS Chief Abram Bakhchagoulyan, testing was conducted of the poultry being stored by Aleks Grig. The results are not yet available. Ghoulyan says that his boss has instructed that all Doux and Sadia poultry brands be inspected at Armenia’s border crossings and that they only be allowed in afterwards.

Ghoulyan said that if it is revealed that higher than permitted hormone levels are found across the board in the other amount, they will declare them dangerous and ban their importation.

When we asked why quality testing hadn’t been conducted up till now on imported poultry, Ghoulyan responded that according to RA Government Decision 1442-N imported poultry is deemed acceptable if the corresponding documentation ids in order and that the FSS must act accordingly. We reminded  Ghoulyan that Europe and Russia had long ago banned American and Brazilian meat based on higher than permitted hormone levels. “If we deem something dangerous, we too will ban it,” was his answer.

Naira Khachatryan, who heads the Department of Veterinary Sanitary Testing at the Agrarian University, said that Armenia imports frozen poultry from Brazil and India solely based on an accompanying certificate that says, in one sentence, that no hormones have been used. She added that there is no guarantee, however, that the animal hasn’t been fed hormone preparations.

“An animal cannot have such an appearance without those preparations. Naturally, they are giving animals enriched feed that also includes the testosterone hormone. The existence of hormones in meat products should be ruled out altogether,” says Khachatryan.

She noted that testosterone is a sex hormone that makes the animal grow more and develops the muscle system, but that it upsets the organism’s metabolism. In addition, the meat isn’t that tasty.

“Those taking hormonal supplements can show signs of metabolic imbalance and mental problems. Hormones can aid in growth but testosterone can also facilitate the development of tumour pockets if not given to the animal in the proper amounts. People eating at lot of this stuff on a regular basis can also get sick. Why do we have so much cancer illness in Armenia? The cause is our diet, hormones and chemical additives,” Khachatryan said.

Margarita Babayan, Chief of the State Hygienic and Anti-Epidemic Inspectorate at the Ministry of Health, explains that hormones are chemicals released by a cell, a gland, or an organ in one part of the body that affects cells in other parts of the organism and that they are vital for the normal functioning of the organism.

She says that hormones are usually used in animal husbandry to make animals larger and to spur meat and milk content. Most often the hormones used are estrogen (female), testosterone (male) and the pregnancy hormone progesterone.

Eating food products that include higher than permitted levels of hormones can lead to:

• Hormonal imbalance
• Mammary and prostate gland tumours
• Auto-immune disease (allergy, asthma)
• Disorder of reproductive function
• Limited growth of fetus
• Early sexual puberty in children

Most professionals regard hormones as more dangerous than bacteria in food products, noting that hormones can produce the same results in humans as in animals.

Margarita Babayan referred to a series of tests conducted on children in Puerto Rico showing that those who ate large amounts of meat reached sexual puberty at an earlier than normal age and were more hirsute than others.

Local experts, while stressing the negative impact of hormones on the human body and regarding the results of tests carried out by Standard Dialog as worrisome, nevertheless are wary of sounding the panic alarm, pointing out that frozen poultry isn’t widely consumed in Armenia anyway.

Test results showed testosterone levels of 92.041 mg in Doux chickens and 066.104 mg in Sadia chickens. The RA government has issued a minimum level of 0.03mg.

Poultry Producers Union President Sergey Stepanyan says that during the past 3-4 years, some 36-37,000 tons of poultry are consumed on average per year, of which 20-22% is domestically produced. He says the rest is frozen poultry imported from the U.S. and Brazil.

According to the RA Ministry of Health, the main causes of death in Armenia in the past few years are illnesses of the blood circulatory system (47%) and cancer-related illness (19%). Cancer-related illnesses have been on the rise of late, with 50,358 new cases in 2009, 54,650 in 2010 and 57,474 in 2011.

(To be continued)