The Belgospishcheprom concern initiates the introduction of quality control over the chocolate imported in Belarus, deputy head of the department responsible for sugar and pastry enterprises affiliated with the concern Liudmila Fomina told reporters on 17 November,it was learnt.

According to Liudmila Fomina, this work will be done in cooperation with the State Committee for Standardization and the Scientific and Practical Center for Foodstuffs of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus. The major quality assessment criterion is the content of natural cocoa in chocolate.

The quality control is to be launched in Q1 2010, Liudmila Fomina informed. The laboratories of the Scientific and Practical Center for Foodstuffs should be provided with necessary equipment. “We have purchased cutting-edge equipment and technologies that can identify even insignificant amounts of substitutes of cocoa in chocolate,” Liudmila Fomina said.

On 1 October 2009, Belarus introduced new standards for chocolate quality, added chief technologist of the department responsible for sugar and pastry enterprises of Belgospishcheprom Galina Panaskina.

“Introducing these standards we toughened control over the quality of chocolate,” she said. In her words, the new standards require that the content of cocoa should be indicated on the package and make 59-90%. According to Belgospishcheprom specialists, Belarusian standards for chocolate quality are more stringent than Russian ones.

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