A new honey testing laboratory was recently opened in the Ambroauri Municipality. Many dignitaries, including the Ambassador of Japan to Georgia Ishidzuka Hideki attended the opening event.
The opening ceremony of the “honey testing laboratory” was held in Ambrolauri municipality on Tuesday to provide the latest testing facilities to the local as well as other bee farmers of the areas.
The laboratory’s opening event was attended by the Ambassador of Japan to Georgia  Ishidzuka Hideki along with  the State Trustee  Papuna Margvelidze, the First Deputy Trustee  Kristina Kobakhidze, the Mayor of Ambrolauri Municipality, Zviad Mkheidze, the Chairman of the Sakrebulo  Aslan Saganelidze, the Chairman of the Board of Agro-Service Consulting  Irakli Javakhishvili  and local beekeepers members of the local beekeepeer associations as well.
It is also to be specifically mentioned that under the project  the necessary equipment for honey testing was purchased for the Ambrolauri municipality. This will help at least 120 local beekeepers in the area and contribute to food safety in Georgia. The project budget is 82252 US dollars.
It should be noted that the project was implemented within the framework of the Grassroots Grant Program (GGP). The GGP was introduced to provide world-class assistance to relatively small-scale projects.   Many projects are being implemented in various areas  such as public health, education, social protection, agriculture, environmental protection, and poverty alleviation.
The installation of the testing laboratory was a long pending demand of the local beekeeper association and members of these associations as well. The laboratory will further enhance the quality of the honey as the authenticity of the honey will be ensured  with new and innovative testing  methods.
The trust of the consumer will also get a boost because, in most of the cases, people used to complain about the authenticity of honey. At the same time some people with vested interest used to mix the dangerous substances in the pure honey.
This honey mixing compromises the quality of the honey, and the consumers express dissatisfaction. Meanwhile, the members of the beekeeping association and the other bee producers thanked   for installing this new facility in the area.
