Food factories fail inspection

During the briefing of the Authority for Fair Competition and Consumer Protection on current issues, senior inspector of the State Specialized Inspection Agency N.Gankhuyag provided information on meat inspections on October 12.

“The State Specialized Inspection Agency inspected six slaughterhouses in Emeelt and Nalaikh, six meat processing plants, and four specialized meat traders. In doing so, we focused on the hygiene of meat storage and transportation. During the inspection, 87 sheep carcasses were transported from Sukhbaatar Province to Ulaanbaatar by a Hyundai Porter truck at midnight on October 2, through the Khonkhor police post,” the inspector said.

“In addition, Dunpan International's meat factory received 680 goats from Bayankhongor Province. Surveillance cameras found that 17 of these goats had died shortly after reception and that their carcasses had been in the factory yard for many days.”

“Unauthorized animal slaughtering was discovered and stopped near Emeelt market. In addition, appropriate measures were taken to identify areas where animals were slaughtered in areas that did not meet hygiene and sanitation requirements.”

Head of the Authority for Fair Competition and Consumer Protection B.Bat-Erdene said, “The meat goes through five to six stages and increases in price by 2,500 to 3,000 MNT per kg. A kilogram of mutton is being supplied for 5,000 MNT, but it costs 8,000 MNT in the market. Also, many of the Chinese-owned meat processing companies were shut down after receiving information from government agencies that they were being inspected.”

During the briefing, the results of the inspections carried out in connection with the increase in prices of food commodities, such as flour, bakery products, bread and milk, were presented.

The State Specialized Inspection Agency, Mongolian Customs General Administration, General Taxation Department, Authority for Fair Competition and Consumer Protection and Ulaanbaatar Emergency Department jointly inspected Suu LC, Talkh Chikher LLC, Altan Taria LLC and Uguuj Chikher Boov.

Unauthorized animal slaughtering was discovered and stopped near Emeelt market. In addition, appropriate measures were taken to identify areas where animals were slaughtered in areas that did not meet hygiene and sanitation requirements.

The inspection discovered that Altan Taria LLC had increased its flour price by 50 to 100 MNT per kg depending on category in July 31, Talkh Chikher LLC increased the price of 20 types of bread by 100 to 500 MNT depending on type on September 1, Uguuj Chikher Boov LLC increased the prices of 148 types of bread and pastries by 50 MNT on August 17, and SUU LLC increased the price of Minii Mongoliin Suu milk by 100 MNT on September 1.

As part of the pandemic prevention work, the above food producers who increased the prices of their products were deemed to have violated the Law on Disaster Protection and Government Resolution No. 78 to keep prices stable. Officials sent a formal notice to reduce prices, Inspector of the Ulaanbaatar Emergency Department N.Batmunkh highlighted.

The Authority for Fair Competition and Consumer Protection conducted an investigation into a complaint about MIAT's special duty flight ticket prices. Head of the Competition and Policy Coordination Department of the authority T.Battsetseg provided information on the inspection.

“From March to September 2020, MIAT operated 58 special duty flights on 11 routes, bringing 11,745 people. MIAT has set prices for new routes. The cost of special duty flights is high. The audit focuses on indirect flight costs, such as books, printed materials, and business lounges. For example, the indirect cost of a special duty flight from Ulaanbaatar to Seoul is 240,000 MNT for advertising, 753,000 MNT for books and manuals, 72,000 MNT for business lounge and another 39 million MNT, which is 16.3 percent of the total flight cost.”

“It was also revealed that MIAT did not provide food in all special duty flights, but did include food expenses in the ticket price. For example, in addition to the cost of meals for the Ulaanbaatar-Seoul flight, 4.4 million MNT was included. Therefore, we believe that it is possible to reduce ticket prices by reducing other costs.”