CAIRO -

After widespread ridicule in Egypt and the Arab world, and accusations of fraud, it seems that Al-Ayyam decided to finally smile at the owner of the Egyptian cheese factory who was accused of using paint paste in its manufacture.

After analyzing the samples of cheese confiscated from the factory, the Egyptian National Authority for Food Safety announced that the confiscated materials did not contain any chemical substance such as wall paint or others.

10 days ago, the Egyptian authorities raided a factory in the city of Tala in the Menoufia governorate (north of Cairo) after receiving information that it had produced cheese from chemicals used to paint homes, and that the factory used invalid flavoring agents.

Because of the strangeness of the matter and its danger to health, the news spread like lightning in Egypt and the Arab world, amid a state of anger due to the spread of fraud and corruption, and calls for tougher punishment for the factory owner, before his innocence later emerged.

They are not paint materials.. “Food Safety” reveals the details of closing a cheese factory in Menoufia https://t.co/TTMuqjhj5d pic.twitter.com/yjl5iUMzdh

- Al-Masry Al-Youm (@AlMasryAlYoum) December 28, 2021

Factory patent

The National Food Safety Authority said in its statement that the product that was seized is not cheese, as it was reported, but it is one of the popular products known as “Baladi Jameed”, which is used specifically in desert areas for easy preservation and storage in the form of a solid substance, and is not displayed in markets or various licensed outlets to sell Food.

The statement added that the aforementioned product was not exported to any country, and that the authority is responsible for exports and imports of foodstuffs, and does not allow the export of any product from an unregistered or licensed facility, nor does it allow the local trading of any food products except from licensed facilities.

The statement revealed that laboratory analyzes from accredited laboratories affiliated to the Ministry of Industry and Foreign Trade proved that the seized product came from sheep's milk and salt, and did not contain any chemical such as house paint or others.

However, the statement indicated that the analyzes proved that it did not conform to the Egyptian specifications, such as that it contained dust as a result of not following the basic requirements for food safety.

An official statement reveals a surprise about the “Paint Cheese” factory in Menoufia. Our


newspapers rushed and rushed with them. The


cheese was not cheese, it was Jameed my country


. There was no laboratory analysis to prove the presence of wall paints that are


consumed in most Egyptian villages, and the product is not exported to any countries outside Egypt https: //t.co/b978YgVwx3

— Mohamed (@45mogaber) December 29, 2021

Trend and reputation destruction

Social media pioneers expressed their anger at what they described as unprofessional in announcing those responsible for factory violations without waiting for the results of the analyzes.

Tweeters sympathized with the owner of the factory, whose reputation was destroyed by rumors, the closure of the factory and the displacement of its workers.

For his part, the head of the National Food Safety Authority, Hussein Mansour, expressed his surprise at judging the seized substance in the cheese factory as a "coating substance", through form only, pointing to the circulation of the matter in an unprofessional manner that does not depend on any credibility, in a telephone interview. With the "DMC Evening" program, yesterday, Tuesday.

In turn, House of Representatives member Mohamed Zein El-Din submitted, today, Wednesday, a request to brief the government, represented by the ministries of supply, health, and agriculture, regarding the incident, according to Egyptian newspapers and websites.

Zein El-Din said that the news was broadcast and transmitted by all the Egyptian, Arab and international media, which caused a scandal for the Egyptian industry, although the incident contained major inaccuracies, and caused damage to the reputation of Egyptian food exports, killing and shaking the confidence of the Jordanian citizen in it.

The member of the House of Representatives explained that the incident and the way it was dealt with in the media caused great confusion in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which imports the “jameed” product made from goat or buffalo milk from several factories in Egypt, most of which are owned by Jordanian businessmen.

The deputy pointed out that the incident negatively affects the confidence of the foreign investor in the Egyptian market, due to the irresponsible position of a committee that did not investigate many matters before broadcasting the news, the most important of which is the reputation of the Egyptian product in the world.