Armenian salt is natural and doesn’t contain chemical additives: Areg Ghukasyan
Recently 168.am introduced one of the publications of Russian media outlets, in which the author issued the photo of the salt of concrete production and its content, stating that it contains Е-535/536 additive. We have introduced this material on account of the point that salt of production of different countries is being imported to Armenia. However, it turns out, that some Armenian websites have published the news with the photo of Armenian salt box, which raised talks amid the society.
The article introduced by 168.am, particularly reads, “Recently paying attention to the content of one of the salts, Е-535/536 additive was observed in its content. It’s obtained as a result of cleaning of gases through chemical synthesis. It contains cyanide compound. While buying salt pay attention to this content and avoid using salt with likewise additives.”
Areg Ghukasyan, president of “Yerevan Salt Plant” CJSC, told 168.am that the salt covered in the article is of European, in particular, of Dutch production and has nothing to do with the Armenian salt, “We don’t principally use that additive, which Europe adds to the salt. Ours is natural, clean salt. Europeans, coming to Armenia wonder, as we have serious issues linked to technology, cleaning, however, we don’t do it on purpose, so that our people didn’t have that poison in food.”
We also asked Areg Ghukasyan about proper content of iodine. “Iodine in our salt is of proper quantity: salt is iodized artificially, as naturally it doesn’t contain iodine. Armenian standard requires 40±15 grams per ton. That content complies with the standard. Monitoring has been implemented by UNICEF, and they came to the conclusion that due to salt iodization Armenia is free of illnesses of iodine deficiency,” he said.
Regarding the necessity to import salt to Armenia, he replied, “We live under free market economy conditions. As a person, responsible for salt production in Armenia, I’ll say that we produce required quantity of salt in the Republic. We may see salt imported from Ukraine and Iran in the markets, however, I advise to use local production, as it’s natural and doesn’t contain any chemical additives.”
By Razmik Martirosyan
