Five companies marketing packaged coffee in Armenia have been fined 5 million AMD each after it was found that their product contained a number of additives not included on the ingredient label.

Some of the additives were deemed unhealthy according to laboratory analysis conducted at the behest of the RA State Commission for the Protection of Economic Competition (SCPEC).

The SCPEC found that while the coffee was marketed as 100% pure, it also contained traces of barley, walnut, wheat and other elements.

The brands and manufacturers found in violation of the law are: Fero (Fero), Valetta (Premier), Byurakn (Pyramid Elit), Vans Group (Star) and Askolio (Marsel).

In addition, laboratory tests of some twenty other coffee brands found that while the product did not contain any additives, the coffee itself has of poor quality and in some cases unfit for consumption.