Over 221 tons of illegal caviar was detected in Russia over half a year

Over 221 tons of illegal caviar of sturgeon and salmon fish have been detected in the country for six months thanks to the introduction of labeling. Of these, more than 218 tons of red caviar and almost 3 tons of black caviar, the Department of Control and Supervision of the Center for Development of Advanced Technologies (CDAT) told Izvestia.

It noted that the counterfeit was detected in 34 regions of Russia. The Astrakhan region ranks first in terms of its volume, where about 98.5 tons of illegal delicacy was detected. This is 44.6% of the total amount of counterfeit detected across the country. In second place is the Moscow region, where almost 36 tons of counterfeit was detected on the shelves. In third place is Moscow with 33.4 tons of illegal caviar.

"The integration of the labeling system with the VetIS system makes it possible to promptly detect counterfeit. Only since the beginning of 2025, labeling has allowed to identify 13.4 tons of counterfeit caviar. Almost half of this volume - 6 tons - was detected in the Astrakhan region. A little more than 3 tons were detected in the Moscow region and 1.6 tons of caviar of unknown origin - in the Nizhny Novgorod region. What is interesting is that the smallest batch of counterfeit caviar weighs 400 grams and was detected in January this year in Kostroma region," Revaz Yusupov, Deputy Director General of CRPT explained to Izvestia.

According to him, all information about the detected counterfeit is automatically transferred to Rosselkhoznadzor, which applies this information as a risk indicator within the framework of the risk-oriented approach in control activities.

"The volume of illegal caviar on the Russian market is consistently decreasing. This is facilitated by the strengthening of control in the sphere of tax and veterinary legislation, air transportation and improvement of the system of traceability of goods arriving at the shelves in general. The main consequence of labeling is the removal from the "shadow" of a large number of manufacturers whose activities and products were not subject to control. Now they, though forced, produce products that meet the requirements and norms of the Russian sanitary regulations and are really safe for customers," explained German Zverev, President of the All-Russian Association of Fishery Producers (VARPE) to Izvestia.

According to him, "Oobelenie" of the market gives real results: last year, despite a decrease in the physical volume of supply of red fish due to the unsuccessful poutine season, the volume of sales in retail increased.

"One of the reasons is precisely the decrease in the share of poached caviar and the growth of general consumer awareness of the risks of consuming such products," the business representative said.

According to the CRPT, for 10 months since the start of labeling caviar from the "shadow" removed 89 enterprises that previously did not report to the state.

Catching in the net: scammers began to deceive Russians with the help of caviar schemes

Attackers lure victims with promises of a cheap delicacy

Earlier, February 9, it was reported that a man and a woman in Moscow detained for organizing the illegal sale of black caviar of sturgeon fish species. As part of operational activities they were found and seized illegal fish products, its total weight amounted to about 120 kg.