“In general, one can say that the safety and quality of milk and dairy products have improved significantly over the past few years,” said Sergey Dankvert.
He cited data from laboratory tests of milk and dairy products.
Thus, only 243 (3,08%) out of 7899 samples of dairies produced in Russia didn’t meet safety requirements. These laboratory tests were run from January 1 to August 31, 2022.
“According to the results of laboratory tests, made all over the country, the revealed share of unsafe dairies of both foreign and domestic manufacture has decreased threefold since 2018, and by 1,5 times for low quality products,” Rosselkhoznadzor’s press service said in a statement.
The officials of the service added, that positive results were achieved through the joint efforts of Rosselkhoznadzor and Dairy Union of Russia with the direct involvement of the Ministry of Agriculture of the Russian Federation. “It is crucially related to the launch of the Mercury digital traceability system for livestock products, which has in a phased approach become mandatory in 2018-2019,” the press service added.
According to Sergey Dankvert, the violations mostly included inconsistencies in microbial hygiene indicators, namely detection of pathogenic microflora in the products (staphylococci, coliform bacteria, yeast, mold, excess of QMAFAnM).
The head of the service also paid attention to drug residues revealed in milk products. These are amphenicols, nitroimidazoles, nitrofurans, and their metabolites, tetracyclines, lincosamides, macrolides, penicillins, etc.
Vegetable oils and vegetable-based fats, milk fat adulterated with non-dairy fats, the presence of food additives and powdered milk, or microbial transglutaminase were named among the violations of quality requirements.
Sergey Dankvert also spoke about commissions for prevention of illegal turnover of industrial products created in every region of the country. “If you want your work to be more effective, your representatives together with the heads of regional governments should join their efforts with these commissions,” concluded the head of the service.
