Food security of Moscow

Moscow has no farmlands, which is why the city purchases agricultural products from the Russian regions and foreign companies. At the same time, Moscow has everything necessary for processing and warehousing these products, i.e. food and food processing enterprises, along with warehouses. At the moment, Moscow possesses a quality control system that monitors food products at various stages. The Moscow state inspection overseeing the quality of agricultural supplies, produce and foodstuffs was&Nbsp;established at the Moscow Mayor’s initiative in 1998 amid financial turmoil. The inspection monitors the main food product flows in the city, city food reserves, and the products of food producing and processing companies, wholesale and retail trade, marketplaces, etc. All of these ensure the proper quality of food products.

According to the results of checks, some products bought in Moscow are sometimes low quality, outdated, have no documents to prove their quality and safety, or have insufficient or false information that may mislead consumers. Food adulteration has become very wide-spread. For example, various flavoring agents make cheaper kinds of fish look like expensive ones, making it possible to sell Alaska Pollack under the guise of cod, pike perch, and sole. Falsification is a common thing when it comes to meat products too. One can trace injections in meat products from Moldova, Ukraine, Tatarstan, Poland, China, Brazil, and Argentine. Laboratory investigations disclosed food supplements in these products that keep the moisture in. Meat producers also use various complex supplements and never mention them on product packaging. As for sausage, meat can be replaced with low-quality proteins (pork skin, animal proteins) and soya proteins.

It is a common occurrence in the confectionary business for producers to attract more customers by listing ingredients that they didn’t use, which can be baked milk, butter, honey, cream, bananas, coconuts, and dried apricots.

In dairy production milk fat is commonly replaced with vegetable oil, and when it comes to condensed milk with sugar, in some cases 70 to 100% of what is supposed to be milk fat is actually vegetable oil. Most drinking milk and milk products are produced from reconstituted milk. In the majority of cases, milk normalization is al about using milk powder and condensed milk with sugar, or even butter.

The appearance of GMO foods on the Moscow market is another problem connected with food security at the moment. People are warned against potential remote effects from consuming such products. Despite the fact that no hazardous effect from using GMO products has been proven and the products are approved for consumption by the World Health Organization in Russia, people should be careful with them until full-scale research of GMO’s impact on the human body are completed.

Many other cities and countries share Moscow’s concerns about GMO foods. As strong evidence of that, more than 30 countries and 100 regions worldwide have declared themselves GMO-free zones. On July 12, 2006, Moscow passed the law “On Food Security of Moscow,” banning budget spending on the procurement and production of GMO foods. According to the EU countries’ estimates, in cases when GMO ingredients account for 0.9% or less of a product, they are considered a technical substance and this product does not require a GMO label. In other cases, when the percentage level is higher, the product must have one. Moscow’s law “On Food Security” reads that all products procured on Moscow budget’s money shall not contain any GMO substances.

On December 12, 2007, a federal law on the compulsory labeling of all food products containing GMO organisms was passed in Russia, according to which consumers have the right to receive all the necessary and true information about the contents of foodstuffs. The law obliges all food producers to inform consumers about the GMO nature of each product, unless it is below 0.9%.

Sanitation and epidemiological resolutions are now in effect with regards to 14 kinds of food of plant origin in Russia which were produced using transgenic technology. They are: 3 kinds of soya, 6 kinds of corn, 4 kinds of potato, 1 kind of rice and 1 kind of white beet. Though there are not many of them, they are added to a wide variety of products. Experts say that most frequently, GMO elements are used in poultry (5.6%), dairy (5.1%), and meat (3.8%) products. A lot of GMO elements are contained in children’s food.

The federal law “On Technical Regulation” and the law “On Legal Entities” and Individuals’ Rights Protection in State Control (Surveillance)’ failed to lead to any substantial improvement, though the laws were meant to create conditions similar to those that help regulate the European market.

For developed European countries, a regulation is a “must follow” document. Standards can be applied at everyone’s own discretion, which helps avoid excessive administrative interference with entrepreneurship.

However, voluntary standards have a different meaning in Russia compared to the EU countries, where laws in force make voluntary standards mandatory. Since the market is not yet developed enough, voluntary standards are frequently considered non-obligatory. This worsens the overall quality of food products.

The law “On Technical Regulation” is meant for a period of seven years during which technical requirements are to be worked out. At the moment, the bills worked out and even passed on the first reading by the State Duma of Russia that envisage technical regulation with regards to food products require serious revision.

Since the government no longer regulates the quality of food products, it is left up to consumers to decide whether or not to use this or that particular product. With this in mind, consumers must have accurate information in order to make a choice.

At present, Moscow consumers have to be well-educated and able to decide on the safety of any certain food product. They must pay close attention to both the shelf life of a given product and the legal address of its producer. The latter also must be detailed. The product label has to contain complete information about all ingredients, though this particular text in most cases may barely be readable. Doing one’s grocery shopping at market places creates the risk of buying low-quality products, though the sellers must have their products certified.

For this reason, control and surveillance services of Moscow cooperate, and they can reject a whole consignment of products, ban it from usage, or even discontinue the operation of the entire production line.