The European Union (EU) has refused to import seven shipments of Georgian hazelnuts in 2018 due to the discovery of large amounts of the toxin aflatoxin..
Head of the Food Safety Department of the Georgian National Food Agency Giorgi Mikadze explained that hazelnuts are inspected before exporting but during the transportation process they become contaminated and accordingly cannot enter the EU market.
We have strong control mechanisms. If the hazelnuts are inspected and contaminants are revealed, of course, they will not be exported”, said Mikadze.
He said that in previous years there were other incidents in which Georgian hazelnut shipments were rejected – nine in 2016 and nine in 2017.
“Such cases happen in all hazelnut exporting countries and Georgia is not an exception”, said Mikadze.
The rejected hazelnuts will be destroyed or processed as non-food products.
In the first 10 months of 2018 the export of Georgian hazelnuts decreased by 30%.