Author: VK
The Russian State Council will discuss the dissolution of the Federal Service for Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare on December 26. Its functions are to be passed to other structures. Head of the federal agency Gennady Onishenko believes that such an initiative would certainly lead to repercussions in the chemical and biological security of the country. But such idea would no doubt please the manufacturers of neighbor states because the Federal Service for Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare banned Lithuanian sprats, Moldavian wine, Polish beef, Georgian mineral water, and Belarusian milk during tensions with these states. The Agriculture Ministries of Russia and Belarus have already approved trade forecasts of the basic agricultural products for 2012. Belarus will provide Moscow with 3.7 million tons of milk, Russian Agriculture Minister Yelena Skrynik said, noting that Belarus will reduce the quantities of milk shipped during the seasonal growth of production in Russia.
There is indeed plenty of milk at Russian markets, but the joy is clouded with reports on low quality of the product and falsifications. Products named on labels, such as butter and cheese, turn out to be submilk products with low milk concentration but sold at high prices. "There are no objective reasons for a rise of prices, including prices for milk products", Andrey Danileko, Chairman of the Public Council of the Agriculture Ministry, said. 2011 shows good volumes of production of agricultural products. Prices for raw milk are the most stable, compared with previous years, and reach an average of 14 rubles in Russia. The price is within the limit of 12-16 rubles. Danilenko underlined that the Agriculture Ministry expects a dramatic rise of prices for milk products. He noted a surplus of raw milk, cheese and butter in Russia amd Belarus, the Russian partner in the single economic space.
A dramatic fall of milk production was registered in 2005, almost forcing manufacturers to find new ways for its production. They started producing milk powder, which Danilenko called a very nutritious product. "Unfortunately, there was excessive replacement with tropical oil, in particular, the palm and coconut oil. And the most unpleasant thing is that when foreign states use replacers of milk fat, that is vegetable fat, we used palm and coconut oil, often reprocessed, which is hard to digest for the body", Danilenko said. He noted that the problem was caused by lack of state standards. According to existing laws, any product considered unsafe may be banned from production, regardless of its usefulness. In order to affect the situation there were regulations passed to make manufacturers give clear information about ingredients on the label. An amendment to the regulations passed in late July 2011 limited the quantity of vegetable fat in milk products. For example, vegetable fats should not exceed 50% in ice cream. Cheese must be made from 100% milk, cheese products should not exceed 50% of vegetable fats.
Danilenko noted that the Public Council of the Agriculture Ministry inspected milk production in Moscow, Moscow Region, Saint-Petersburg, Leningrad Region, Novosibirsk and Krasnodar. He paid special attention to the most risky products, for example, condensed milk, sour cream, butter and cheese spread. Over 50% of butter had vegetable fats that should not be there. Vegetable fats were also found in 50% of condensed milk, 30% of sour cream and cottage cheese, 70% of cheese spread, where they were not supposed to be either. All results were sent to the Federal Anti-Monopolic Service (FAS) and the Federal Service for Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare. The FAS has initiated 9 administrative cases in Moscow, Saint-Petersburg, Smolensk, Ivanovsk, Orlov, Vladimir and Kaliningrad Regions. Danileko noted that opening criminal cases caused a resonance among manufacturers. They expressed the choice of enterprises for inspection. Danilenko affirmed that inspections should be expected in all Russian regions.
The official believes that regulations should also concern traders who are part of the Association of Retail Trade Companies. "It is impossible to eradicate falsified products without close cooperation with networks". Among the violators, Danilenko mentioned the Omsky Zavod Plavlennykh Syrov, Enhelsskaya Maslosyrbaza, Verkhovsky Molochno-Konservny Zavod, Belmorprodukt, Ankovskoye, PK Ilyinskoye 95. Danileko reassured that prices for milk products will be regulated by market networks in cooperation with the Agriculture Ministry and urged consumers to pay attention to ingredients on labels.
