The national food agency has detected large scale violation in food items. As per the agency out total 100 samples of honey five have failed the standard requirements.
As per agency data in last year large scale violations were detected and 5 out of 100 honey samples tested in 2024 were impure. In 2024, within the framework of the State Food Safety Program, the National Food Agency took 100 samples throughout Georgia to study veterinary drugs and other contaminating residues in honey and tested them in accredited laboratories.
It is worth to note that as a result of laboratory research, antibiotic residues metronidazole, chloramphenicol, tetracycline were detected in 5 honey samples. In connection with the detected violations, measures provided for by the legislation were taken against violators.
The business operators were prohibited from selling the named food and were ordered to withdraw it from the market, which will be supervised by the National Food Agency.
It is noteworthy that as a result of the Agency’s intensified state checking in the food and veterinary sectors as well as enhanced cooperation with business operators and increased awareness, violations in honey have significantly decreased in recent years.
On the other hand, in 2017-2018, non-compliance was observed in 50 percent of 100 samples, since 2019 it has been recorded only in isolated cases. Currently, honey produced in Georgia is exported to several countries in the European Union and the world.
Notably in recent years, in order to protect consumer interests, food agency has increased the export potential of Georgian honey and now honey is exported to European Union countries in heavy quantity. Whereas the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Agriculture and the National Food Agency have been implementing a consistent policy.
In 2015, technical regulations on honey were approved and a list of prohibited drugs (antibiotics) was determined. Similarly a monitoring plan for veterinary drugs and other polluting residues was approved.
At the same time the laboratory capabilities were improved and appropriate methodology for research on various honey parameters was introduced. In following year in 2016, the European Commission positively assessed the state control system and allowed the import of honey from Georgia to the European Union.