Non-edible Coloring Found in Georgian Products

The NGO Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG), which monitors production on the Georgian market, found non-edible coloring in six out of 42 investigated varieties of Tkemali. Some of these harmful products are issued under the name of famous brands, among them “Kula”, “Supremo” and “Marneuli Food Factory.”

The organization reports that after purchasing varieties of Georgian bottled sauces in different stores, they sent them to a laboratory in Germany, where they were checked for 12 non-edible colorings.

The NGO offers further details about the investigation:

“While it is true that the amount of non-edible coloring found in the abovementioned production was rather small, the permanent use of these colorings can cause cancer or genetic mutation," reads the CSRDG publication.

The research results were published on momxmarebeli.ge. Reportedly, coloring of the "Sudan" category was found in some products, a category of food coloring used to redden products. However, Georgian laboratories are not credible to investigate the use of the abovementioned coloring category.

"We are sending letters to the relevant entrepreneurs and the National Food Agency. We will be looking closely to see the outcomes of our investigation - how the producers will react and how the problem will be solved,” reads the NGO’s publication.

Marneuli Food Factory responded to the recent CSRDG findings, reporting that only local foodstock is used in their production, aside from intermediate products that are not produced in Georgia. These include salt, sugar and spices.

“All our suppliers are from Georgia and all of them own certificates of quality. To follow up the recent findings of the CSRDG, we will be sending all our final products to European laboratories, with whom we have experience, and we will await their feedback and inform our customers about the results. Before then, at this time, we are pausing the production of the products highlighted by the CSRDG,” reads the statement from Marneuli Food Factory.

"Our company salutes the demanded high quality in Georgian markets, transparent processes of product and foodstock origins. We are hopeful that similar studies will be frequent and will not turn into PR work," Marneuli Food Factory added in its statement.

By Nini Dakhundaridze