Moscow: Belarusian apples disguised as Polish, potatoes as Dutch

Belarusian apples available at Moscow supermarkets are disguised as Polish, potatoes "as Dutch," said Vladimir Grakun, the Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Supplies, announced at press conference in Minsk, Thursday.

"Whilst I was in Moscow, I went shopping and found our Belarusian apples in a supermarket– the label said “Country of origin - Poland”, and our potatoes labelled “Holland”," said Grakun, "I will never confuse our products."

"It could be our fault – we do not apply as many fungicides to our crops as they do in Europe. That’s why some odd spots can be noticed on our apples, but not on Polish ones. Same with potatoes," explained the Deputy Minister.

Besides, Grakun pointed out that some Belarusian farms shipped potatoes into Moscow. Those were clean and pre-packed potatoes, grown in Belarus. However, the varieties were Dutch.

"This is probably the reason why the potatoes are not labelled as Belorussia," supposed Grakun.

According to the Deputy Minister, some of the early harvested potatoes have already hit the market. "The price is quite high (1 Euro per kilo) due to high production costs," said Grakun.

Source: charter97.org