At one of the enterprises in the Vitebsk region, apple mash was added to fruit wine instead of alcohol

August 31, Minsk /BELTA/. At one of the enterprises in the Vitebsk region, apple mash was added to fruit wine instead of alcohol, reported Veronika Posmetieva, Senior Operative Officer for Particularly Important Cases of the Main Directorate for Combating Economic Crimes of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Belarus, to BELTA correspondent. Employees of the Department for Combating Economic Crimes of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee's Internal Affairs Directorate revealed a violation of the fruit wine production technology at one of the enterprises in the Senno district. According to the requirements of technical regulatory legal acts in the field of technical regulation and standardization, alcohol is added to wine materials during the production of batches of fortified fruit wine of improved quality. However, the enterprise's employees, in violation of technical standards, diluted the wine materials not with alcohol, but with fermented-alcoholized apple juice (mash) of their own production. "Thus, from January 2011 to August 2012, more than 100 thousand liters of mash were produced for the production of substandard wine, and another 2 thousand bottles of 0.7-liter bottles of 'Dryada' wine were released for a total amount of over Br180 million," said Veronika Posmetieva. The substandard wine was seized by employees of the economic crimes service, so it did not reach the shelves. The validity of the certificate granting the enterprise the right to sell wine has been suspended until the identified violations are rectified. Operatives are conducting further operational-search activities, in particular, the whereabouts of the alcohol intended for addition to the wine materials are being established. An administrative protocol has been drawn up against the official who allowed these violations. "According to the legislation, violations of the requirements of technical regulatory legal acts in the field of technical regulation and standardization, as well as legislation on conformity assessment of these products and alcohol, entail the imposition of a fine on officials in the amount of 80 to 100 base units (one base unit is currently Br100 thousand) with confiscation of products and alcohol that do not meet the specified requirements," explained Veronika Posmetieva.-0-