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The News in Brief

Monday, December 24
By Mariam Chanishvili



Georgian Hazelnuts rejected by EU

The National Food Agency stated that the poisonous carcinogen - Aflatoxins has been discovered in Georgian nuts in 2018 in 6 cases, which was the reason why the European Union returned and did not accept them.

The quality requirements for organic hazelnuts are especially high as they are mainly exported to Europe.

The agency also noted that compared to 2017, the number of hazelnuts returned due to Aflatoxins has reduced.

“Because the hazelnut harvest in Georgia is reduced, in most cases the nuts are exported from Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan has been named as a high-risk country in terms of Aflatoxin by the European Union. Sometimes local exporters bring nuts from Azerbaijan and sell it in EU countries together with Georgian hazelnuts, in this case, the sending country is Georgia," said the head of the Department of Food and Beverage of the National Food Agency of Georgia, Mariam Gordadze.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Aflatoxins are poisonous substances produced by certain kinds of fungi (molds) that are found naturally all over the world; they can contaminate food crops and pose a serious health threat to humans and livestock.

Pre-harvest contamination with aflatoxins is mainly limited to maize, cottonseed, peanuts and tree nuts.



Saakashvili admits that pages of fake news were created by his supporters during elections

The former President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili admitted during his live on Facebook, his supporters used Facebook pages in order to spread fake news about the 2018 presidential election campaign.

As Saakashvili said, Guram Donadze was the author of one such Facebook page "Resident Salome". He also mentioned other pages.

Facebook pages named by Mikheil Saakashvili during the presidential election campaign of 2018 were mostly distributed against Salome Zurabishvili, some of which were fake.

The information about insulting statements of Megrelians and Kakhetians by Salome Zurabishvili was spread by ‘Resident Salome’ as well, which were fake.

The election campaign built on a whole lot of negativity was criticized by the EU Ambassador to Georgia Carl Hartzell, who noted that hate speech and threats are unacceptable in presidential candidates.