Got burned in milk. Rosselkhoznadzor checks revealed falsification in products for budgetary institutions

The first interdepartmental audit of the dairy products market took place in Russia
RBC got acquainted with the results of the federal inspection of dairy products. The most problematic category turned out to be cottage cheese - the composition of most brands does not correspond to the declared one, and more than a third of the products are sold with mold.

Rosselkhoznadzor, Rospotrebnadzor and Roskachestvo have summed up the preliminary results of a large-scale inspection of the quality of dairy products. In the course of the study, the results of which were reviewed by RBC, about 250 samples of cottage cheese, butter and milk were selected and tested.

According to the conclusions of the inspectors, 72 out of 90 brands of milk meet all mandatory requirements, 53 out of 82 - butter, and only 28 out of 73 - cottage cheese.

The audit was initiated earlier this year by the government to identify the industry's major problems. For the first time, the studies were carried out at the federal level, and for the first time the three departments worked together. 250 brands of milk, cottage cheese and butter were selected for verification. In each category, the cumulative share of tested brands exceeds 70%. Purchases were made in stores of various formats throughout the country.

What's going on with curd

The worst situation in the cottage cheese segment. 45 brands of cottage cheese, or more than 60% of those tested, do not meet the mandatory requirements.

The fact that cottage cheese is the most problematic dairy product is also evidenced by another fact: almost 35% of all goods in this category are sold with various violations. First of all, we are talking about a violation of microbiological indicators (presence of mold or yeast) - it was detected in 22 out of 73 tested brands of cottage cheese. Exceeding the content of antibiotics was detected in nine brands.

In butter and milk, sales violations are less - almost 26% and 21% of all studied products, respectively.

Violations in microbiology are the result of problems with storage and transportation, and it is very difficult to find the culprit here, says Andrey Karpov, chairman of the board of the Russian Association of Retail Market Experts. According to him, problems can arise at the level of both the manufacturer and the logistics company or seller. If violations are recorded in retail, this is usually the fault of the retailer, objects the vice president of Danone in Russia and the CIS Marina Balabanova.

Specific brands and manufacturers, in whose products violations were revealed, refused to be named in Roskachestvo. Its representative promises that the full results with brand names will be published closer to the summer.

Not that fat

One of the main objectives of the audit was to determine the proportion of counterfeit products, that is, products not made from milk fat. According to technical regulations, in classic dairy products - drinking milk, butter, cottage cheese - the use of vegetable fats, in particular palm oil, is prohibited. On the site of the “open government”, the wish of the first persons of the state “once and for all” to put an end to the question of whether there is falsification in dairy products or not was mentioned, one of RBC’s interlocutors explained earlier the reasons for the check.

Most often, vegetable fats are used in the production of butter, follows from the results of a joint study of three departments. In this category, the share of counterfeit products is almost 14% in physical terms. For milk, this figure does not exceed 12%, for cottage cheese - 2%. As for the distribution by brands, the presence of vegetable fats in butter was confirmed in 10 out of 82 brands, in milk - in 8 out of 90, cottage cheese - in 6 out of 73.

modest growth

Milk production in Russia in 2017 increased, according to Rosstat, by 1.2%, to 31.1 million tons. The output of marketable milk, which is processed, according to Soyuzmolok, last year amounted to 21.2 million tons, which is 3% more than a year earlier.

Retail sales of milk in monetary terms increased last year, according to Nielsen, by 5%, to 163 billion rubles, butter and margarine - by 12%, to 74.2 billion rubles, cottage cheese - by 4%, to 58.1 billion rubles. In real terms, sales declined in all three categories, Nielsen notes.

Nielsen names PepsiCo and Danone as the largest producers of drinking milk in Russia. Retailers' own brands compete with them. In the category of butter, the Nizhny Novgorod Oil and Fat Plant and Ekomilk are considered leaders, which are also opposed by private brands. The largest cottage cheese producers are Danone, PepsiCo, Molvest and Belarusian Savushkin Product.

Two departments - two opinions

The problem of falsification of products in the dairy market has been discussed for many years, while the assessments of the two supervisory agencies - Rosselkhoznadzor and Rospotrebnadzor - almost always differ. “Joint work on the execution of the government’s instructions allowed us to draw accurate and objective conclusions regarding the real situation on the market for the most popular dairy products,” said Maxim Protasov, head of Roskachestvo.

The figures obtained during the study turned out to be higher than the estimated data of Rospotrebnadzor. According to agency estimates, at the end of 2017, the share of falsified dairy products in Russia amounted to 3.9% against 4.3% a year earlier. According to the results of the first quarter, this figure also does not exceed 4%, RBC specified on Friday, May 11, in the press service of Rospotrebnadzor. At the same time, the department noted that, judging by the total number of samples with violations, falsification does not exceed 8%. Thus, according to Rospotrebnadzor, "information about the mass falsification of dairy products with vegetable fats is not confirmed." The department did not comment on the results of the check in the category of butter.

Rosselkhoznadzor, which has always insisted on a high proportion of counterfeit products in dairy products, is satisfied with the results of the federal audit. The head of this service, Sergey Dankvert, said earlier that in some categories of dairy products, the share of counterfeit products in some regions can reach 50%. Most violations are detected in butter, as well as in cheeses that have not been tested, said Yulia Melano, a representative of Rosselkhoznadzor.
Supervisory agencies within two weeks, until the end of May, were instructed to prepare an action plan to improve the quality of dairy products on the shelves, the acting superintendent of the audit handed over to RBC. Minister for "Open Government" Mikhail Abyzov. According to him, Rosselkhoznadzor and Rospotrebnadzor, with the participation of manufacturers and retailers, should develop proposals for measures to prevent violations and improve legislation in the field of product quality control. It is necessary to determine the entire chain from raw materials to the final product, where deviations can occur, according to acting. minister.

One of the main proposals of Rosselkhoznadzor is the introduction of electronic veterinary certification for all food products, recalls Melano. This certification is due to take effect July 1, 2018; at the same time, market players have repeatedly opposed it.

The study showed the absence of large-scale falsification of dairy products, according to Soyuzmoloko, an industry organization that unites the largest milk processors. However, during the study, manufacturers had questions about the reliability of control methods, adds a representative of the Russian office of PepsiCo.

From milk powder

During the test, 25 out of 90 brands of drinking milk were found to contain powdered milk, but its presence in the product was not reported on the packaging. The technical regulations of the Customs Union do not have a methodology for the study of powdered milk in finished products, but this indicator was included in the research program as a reference - for objective monitoring of the market situation, specify in Roskachestvo. The method for determining milk powder in a product needs to be improved, and the results of the current audit cannot be representative, insists a representative of the industry organization Soyuzmoloko.

In the Astrakhan Arbitration Court there are several administrative cases initiated by the Rosselkhoznadzor department based on the results of inspections of dairy products supplied to budgetary institutions. The inspectors found in the samples vegetable fats prohibited by GOST. Experts note that such “milk” is getting into institutions more and more often, and they blame the current system of public procurement for this.

The Arbitration Court of the Astrakhan region accepted for consideration the application of the Rosselkhoznadzor department for the Rostov, Volgograd and Astrakhan regions and the Republic of Kalmykia on bringing the Astrakhan LLC PKF "Children's Milk" to administrative responsibility. The case of an administrative offense against the company under Part 2 of Art. 14.43 of the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation was initiated after the analysis of samples of milk, which she supplied to one of the kindergartens in the city of Astrakhan.

“Vegetable fats were found in drinking pasteurized milk, which are prohibited by GOST,” Alexander Efremov, deputy head of the department of veterinary control and supervision of the Rosselkhoznadzor Administration for RVAOiRK, told Delovoy Astrakhan. According to him, the samples were taken in March of this year, the analysis was carried out by the Rostov Reference Center of Rosselkhoznadzor.

An excerpt from the decision of the Arbitration Court of the Astrakhan Region dated July 11, 208 in a similar case:
« The falsification of a product with non-dairy fats creates a threat of harm to the life and health of citizens, since vegetable fat, on the basis of which a milk fat substitute is made, undergoes hydrogenation, due to which vegetable oils become hard, lose their unique biological properties and trans-fatty acids are formed in them ... Substitution of milk fats with non-dairy origin also entails a threat of obesity, as well as an allergic reaction (intolerance) in a person, which does not exclude the threat of harm to life , especially those with contraindications for the use of certain types of products due to the presence of somatic diseases. These products pose a threat to human health, especially for older people.”

Inspectors call dairy products with vegetable fats counterfeit, i.e. fake, because its composition differs from that indicated on the packaging and in the certificate of conformity.

According to Yefremov, Detskoye Moloko is only an intermediary that won the tender for the supply of dairy products to an orphanage. Where exactly the milk with vegetable fats that ended up in the kindergarten was produced, as well as whether the supplier company is at fault, will be decided by the court. According to Efremov, tracking the chain of movement of products from the manufacturer to the end consumer is not part of the functions of Rosselkhoznadzor.

This is not the first and probably not the last administrative case initiated on the fact of the supply of low-quality dairy products to the budgetary institutions of Astrakhan. There are several similar cases in relation to other companies and entrepreneurs in the arbitration court. So, vegetable fats were found in samples of dairy products taken at different times in the Regional Infectious Diseases Hospital. A.M. Nichogi (cottage cheese), in GBUZ JSC "Clinical Maternity Hospital" (kefir), etc.

In the summer, the media wrote about several more cases of detection of counterfeit milk in stores and institutions of Astrakhan. The Rosselkhoznadzor then even published a list of manufacturers to which it has claims. These are MolprodKuban LLC (Krasnodar Territory), Brasovskie Syry LLC (Bryansk Region), Moltorg LLC (Rostov Region), Alev-Industriya LLC (Ulyanovsk Region).

NOW IN FIRST PLACE - PRICE

Experts familiar with the situation believe that in the near future the situation with the appearance of counterfeit products on the dairy market is unlikely to change, and they blame the current public procurement system for this. At auctions where contracts for the supply of products to budgetary institutions are played out, the one who offers the lowest price wins.

Local dairy producers who work with natural milk say that this is the reason why they cannot work directly with budgetary institutions. “Those who win competitions are ready to supply milk at 24-26 rubles per liter, while we only have a cost price of 30-32 rubles per liter,” a representative of one of the region's dairy plants told Delovoy Astrakhan.

Of course, the requirements for product quality are also spelled out in the terms of reference - all products must comply with GOST. However, unscrupulous suppliers have learned to circumvent this point by attaching certificates from bona fide manufacturers to cheap products of dubious origin.

Last year, for example, UMP "Krasnoyarsk milk" faced such a situation. As director of the enterprise Arslan Umarov told Delovoy Astrakhan, during the study of samples of cottage cheese taken in one of the Astrakhan institutions, employees of the Rosselkhoznadzor discovered vegetable fats. Claims were made against Krasnoyarsk Moloko - according to the documents, the intermediary supplied its products to the institution. “During the inspection, it turned out that it was not our cottage cheese. It was delivered to the institution in 5-kilogram packages, but we don’t even have such a production line, we have cottage cheese in containers. Our certificate was simply attached to this product,” said Arslan Umarov.

MOSCOW, 21 June. /TASS/. Rosselkhoznadzor is not ready to give a list of enterprises that falsify dairy products, but is ready to provide consumers with a list of honest companies. This was reported to TASS by the deputy head of the department Nikolai Vlasov.

“We are not voicing them (violating companies - ed.) yet, because we have not worked out the inspection regime. This is new for us, we have been dealing with it relatively recently, and we are working on behalf of the government,” Vlasov said. In addition, the department is not ready to name the companies because of the reluctance to conduct litigation, he added.

"If we announce the lists of those manufacturers - and there are a lot of them who falsify their products - we will get involved in an endless number of lawsuits. We don't have the resources to support them," explained the deputy head of the Rosselkhoznadzor.

At the same time, Vlasov noted that the service has created a special web page on which it publishes data on those milk processors who, during inspections, were not convicted of falsifying dairy products. "The list of honest companies lives in real time, manufacturers are added there, according to the results of inspections of which the Rosselkhoznadzor does not reveal falsifications," he said. So far, none of the companies that were previously included in the list have left it in the course of further supervisory actions, the deputy head of Rosselkhoznadzor encouraged.

Now the "green list" includes several branches of the Danone and Wimm-Bill-Dann companies, Pskov Gormolzavod OJSC, RostAgroComplex LLC and other manufacturers.

In the "yellow" list (manufacturers who had minor violations of safety requirements) - LLC "Firm "Kaloria" (Krasnodar Territory), CJSC "Lyubinsk Dairy Plant" (Omsk Region), CJSC "Allat" (Bashkortostan), JSC "Milkom" (production site "Sarapul-moloko").

Major manufacturers

Vlasov also said that large producers are also involved in the falsification of dairy products in Russia. "No. Absolutely not," he said, when asked if it was only small producers.

“There are small manufacturers that produce very high-quality products, and there are outright swindlers. At the same time, large manufacturers also falsify,” Vlasov said.

The deputy head of the Rosselkhoznadzor suggests that the falsification of milk can occur without the knowledge of the company's management.

“We have repeatedly had facts when, by order of the top management, the holding hands over products to us for falsification control. And we find falsification in it. You see, if the director is not crazy, he will never hand over falsified products to the laboratory to us.

"Moreover, in large holdings, I can tell you an interesting topic, at least in some of them - this is not some kind of sanctioned activity. Most likely, this is grassroots corruption within the holding," he added.

In Russia, a large-scale study of milk has been carried out - in all federal districts of the country.

As part of the audit, experts from Roskachestvo, Rospotrebnadzor and Rosselkhoznadzor studied the quality and safety of milk from 90 brands, and more than 80% of the entire Russian market was covered as part of the study. The products were tested on 26 quality and safety parameters. Among them - freshness, the presence of dangerous microorganisms, the content of antibiotics, vegetable fats and milk powder. In the northwestern part of Russia, 12 brands were covered, which are sold in all regions of the district.

The final study was conducted in the Northwestern Federal District (NWFD). It showed that the quality of milk there is quite high - 92% of this drink is made without violations. For example, in the Central Federal District this figure was 75%.

The main drawback of milk in the Northwestern Federal District was the presence of antibiotics in it - in a drink of one brand, their amount exceeded the maximum allowable rate. And in the milk of seven brands, traces of antibiotics were found. Formally, this is not a violation, but such a product will no longer receive a quality mark. In total, 12 brands of milk were tested in the district, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reports.

And the leaders of the study were four brands from the Kaliningrad, Arkhangelsk, Vologda regions and the Republic of Karelia, according to the Roskachestvo website:

All these manufacturers will be able to apply for the Russian Quality Mark.

In general, almost all milk in the Northwestern Federal District turned out to be good. It did not contain vegetable fats (during similar testing in the Central Federal District, they were found in the products of three manufacturers out of 16). Harmful bacteria and microorganisms have not been found in milk in the Northwestern Federal District either.

First, the milk was checked for falsification. Milk is considered adulterated if powdered milk, vegetable fats are added to it, or it is too diluted, and its fat content is lower than declared. The north-west of the Russian Federation passed these tests with honor - in no case did the experts reveal any deviations.

No less close attention was paid to the testing and safety of milk. The product is pasteurized or sterilized to kill most of the bacteria, but pasteurized milk is considered a perishable commodity: its shelf life is usually no more than two weeks. Therefore, verification of microbiological indicators has become an important part of the study. In the milk sold in the Northwestern Federal District, experts did not find any bacteria of the Escherichia coli group, or Staphylococcus aureus, or Listeria, or pathogenic microorganisms (including Salmonella), or toxic elements. The total number of microorganisms (QMAFAnM) in all samples did not exceed the permissible limits. By the way, milk purchased in the Central Federal District showed similar safety results.

A test for antibiotics showed that only one product out of 12 purchased in the Northwestern Federal District contains them in quantities exceeding the norms. There was only one offender in the Central Federal District too.

Checking for freshness and quality of the product showed that all milk purchased in the Northwestern Federal District was fresh, with the optimal amount of protein. Experts did not find underfilling either: in all brands of milk, the product in the package was as much as indicated on the label.

In addition, the experts analyzed the relationship between the quality of milk and its price. The Northwestern Federal District has set a record: milk from the Leningrad Region "Dairy Culture" costs 203 rubles per liter, which is almost 3 times more than the most expensive milk in the Central Federal District. It received 4.7 points out of 5.5 possible. And the cheapest milk from the Northwestern Federal District - JSC "Severodvinsk-Moloko" (57.3 rubles per liter, Arkhangelsk region) and JSC "SLAVMO" (58.35 rubles per liter, Karelia) - received 5 points each.

In June of this year, when Roskachestvo experts checked milk in the Central Federal District, it turned out that every third package there was a fake. Products of 16 popular brands produced in Moscow, Belgorod, Tula, Tver, Kaluga, Voronezh, Ryazan, Orel and Bryansk regions were purchased for study. The contents of each package were "run" through 26 safety and quality parameters.

According to the results of the check, vegetable fats were found in three brands, and powdered milk was found in the products of five brands. The products of two more manufacturers are present in both lists - it contains both milk powder and vegetable fat. Thus, in the Central Federal District, a total of six malicious violators were identified.

And the top five milk producers in the Central Federal District (CFD) included:

• milk Parmalat (applies to the Russian "Quality Mark");

In order to make it more difficult for manufacturers to deceive consumers, on July 15, 2018, new rules for labeling milk-containing products were introduced in Russia. Now the name should indicate that part of the milk fat in the product is replaced by vegetable fat. Soon on the shelves will appear "a milk-containing product with a milk fat substitute, produced using the technology of cheese (sour cream, cottage cheese, etc.)". The developers claim that the innovation will allow the consumer to accurately determine whether he is facing a dairy product or similar with vegetable fat.

Meanwhile, the National Union of Milk Producers (Soyuzmoloko) believes that the only effective way to combat manufacturers of counterfeit dairy products is to introduce high turnover fines.

"Rospotrebnadzor conducts checks, Rosselkhoznadzor, public organizations that find falsifications take an active position in this matter. And time after time they find the same ones, but nothing changes. The problem is not that we know who, but that there is no responsibility for this," Soyuzmolok executive director Artem Belov told Interfax.

For example, in the countries of the EU and North America, even for minor violations, very severe fines are applied. In Russia, for the falsification of dairy products, penalties range from 20 thousand to 600 thousand rubles. That is, the penalties in Russia do not correlate with the profit that enterprises receive from the production of fakes.

Now you can check online. The Rosselkhoznadzor has published on its website a list of enterprises that have never been caught for falsification during the entire period of inspections. These are about 20 dairy factories from different regions of the country - both widely known and very small ones. Moreover, the list includes processors who committed "relatively harmless violations of safety requirements." What is behind these formulations, the economic observer Valery Yemelyanov understood.

A list of verified milk producers can be found on the Rosselkhoznadzor website. He clearly does not pretend to be strict. This is a colorful table, which is preceded by a letter from the deputy head of the department, where he ironically talks about the quality of dairy products in Russia. According to the official, the Rosselkhoznadzor wants to bring "a little positive" to the dairy issue, so it decided to declassify the list of those producers who did not come across for counterfeiting. At least for now. The list can be both reduced and replenished.

Now there are only 19 dairies in it, sorted by color. The Greens were checked many times, everything is clean with them. The "blue" inspectors visited 1-2 times, they are also all right. But the "yellow" ones have security violations, but, most likely, they were committed through negligence (that is, they also do not "play around" with fakes). It turned out that there are only 2 ideal dairies in Russia: one is in the Pskov region, the other is in Bashkiria. Milk producers immediately stated that the list was biased. The chairman of the board of Soyuzmoloko comments Andrey Danilenko:

“As for assessing the quality of finished products, only Rospotrebnadzor has the necessary laboratory facilities. It is difficult for me to assess on the basis of which the Rosselkhoznadzor made these conclusions and compiled a list.”

However, Rosselkhoznadzor does not hide the fact that its inspectors are not responsible for the quality of finished products. The explanation to the list directly states that the agency guarantees only the safety of milk (the absence of viruses, bacteria in it), and also checks the storage conditions within the framework of sanitary standards. "Harmless violations" are usually associated with the fact that the product was stored incorrectly, because of which it could turn sour before processing (this can also happen due to the fault of farmers). That is, regardless of the color in the table, all its figurants are factories that honestly follow the regulations. As for the quality of dairy products in a broad sense, in particular, the absence of palm oil in it, now not a single department can prohibit businessmen from using it. And he can’t even force the manufacturer to notify the buyer that counterfeit products have been found in their products, complains the assistant to the head of Rosselkhoznadzor Alexey Alekseenko:

"Rospotrebnadzor, according to the current legislation, does not have the right to check the quality. The current legislation has left this issue to the discretion of the business. We do not have GOSTs, this also needs to be clearly understood. When we conduct our checks, we are constantly told: "But you do not have the right to check, there is a herbal supplement, and you are veterinarians, this is animal products."

The only institution that monitors the quality of food products according to standards approved by the state and with its permission is Roskachestvo. And at the moment it is just busy compiling an extended list of dairy producers, which will include both violators and "winners". Each product has dozens of evaluation criteria that the buyer simply cannot track. For example, butter may not stand out in any way in taste and at the same time not correspond to the declared fat content, the director of the testing department of Roskachestvo notes. Olga Tokmina:

"The Russian quality system for testing purchased oil with 82.5% fat content. It is this indicator that may be inappropriate for some brands."

Dairy products have repeatedly made headlines in recent months. For example, in St. Petersburg, a mixture of water, palm oil and soy proteins was found in packages with cheap milk. Officials of control departments assure that in a couple of years this will be impossible. Since January 1, 2018, electronic accounting of milk and dairy products has been introduced. The buyer will be able to scan the packaging through the phone and get information about the composition and origin of the product. Or, on the contrary, to understand that he was slipped a fake that was not registered anywhere.