It won't be fat: 14 producers found counterfeit dairy products
14 dairy producers passed off as natural butter and cottage cheese adulterated with vegetable fats, sterols and banned transglutaminase, which should not be in the products. The goods were sold in the federal chains "Dixie", "Magnit", "Svetofor", "OK", "Verniy", "Semishagoff" and others. The Prosecutor General's Office has instructed to check these products for counterfeiting. The public council at Rospotrebnadzor is asking the Ministry of Industry and Trade to withdraw the product from circulation.
Which dairy products were found to be counterfeit
14 Russian dairy producers were found to be counterfeit. Manufacturers passed off as natural butter and cottage cheese products with prohibited transglutaminase, as well as sterols and vegetable fats, which should not be in the products. This follows from the results of the inspection of the North-Western Testing Laboratory of the Federal State Budgetary Institution "VNIIZH" at the Rosselkhoznadzor, as well as from the register of inspections operated by the Prosecutor General's Office. These data were provided to Izvestia by the Public Council at Rospotrebnadzor.
The head of the council, Oleg Pavlov, appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of Industry and Trade with a request to seize products and punish manufacturers. The documents were reviewed by Izvestia. The ministry's press service informed the editorial staff that the request has been received and will be reviewed in due course.
The appeal of the public figure to the departments says that according to the results of laboratory tests, discrepancies in the mass fraction of protein, mass fraction of fat and/or fatty acid composition were found in the product samples of 14 manufacturers. Among them are TMK Tvertsa JSC, Molprom LLC, Furmanovsky Gormolzavod JSC, Voznesenskoye LLC, Baltcom Uni LLC, Maszhirprom LLC, Love Product LLC, Kursk Cheese Factory LLC, Voskhod LLC,Horizon", LLC "Creamy country", LLC "Molsbyt", LLC "Milkovo" and LLC "Mosalsky Dairy Plant".
The samples were purchased at the Dixie, Magnit, Svetofor, OK, Verniy, Semishagoff, Sezon, and others stores, Oleg Pavlov notes.
The letters also say that the supervisory authorities had previously repeatedly convicted the listed manufacturers of non-compliance with mandatory requirements. In the period from 2022 to January 2025, these organizations received 474 warnings from Rospotrebnadzor and Rosselkhoznadzor, of which at least 75 were specifically related to the facts and signs of product adulteration. Among these manufacturers, the use of transglutaminase, banned in the Russian Federation, used to increase the mass of products, and sterols, which are used to increase shelf life.
"Grocery chains today do not seek to independently screen out unscrupulous suppliers and continue to purchase counterfeit products from them. This proves the need for regulators and law enforcement agencies to take more drastic measures to curb illegal trade. Taking into account the above, we ask you to take measures to curb violations and bring violators to justice," the document says.
It also proposes to remove the identified counterfeit from the consumer market.
Oleg Pavlov told Izvestia that the reason for the letters to the departments was an appeal to him from the public consumer organization Public Control with materials indicating systematic sales of counterfeit dairy products in popular retail chains, in particular, cottage cheese and butter.
— We conducted our own check on it and confirmed these violations, after which we appealed to the Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of Industry and Trade with a request to take action. In addition, we have included these companies in the register of forgers approved by the Public Council at Rospotrebnadzor," the public figure explained.
The organization conducts such inspections of dairy producers annually, Vsevolod Vishnevetsky, head of Public Control, told Izvestia. According to him, for this , goods of suspiciously low value are selected, which cannot match the declared brand of butter or cottage cheese, as well as goods from companies that have already been caught in violations.
— There is now a moratorium on business inspections, and There are few opportunities for supervisors to prevent counterfeit goods from entering store shelves. But we want consumers to know what products they are buying. Therefore, our task is to stop the supply of such products," the activist explained.
Vegetable fats can be harmful to health, as they increase the level of "bad" cholesterol in the blood, contribute to the development of atherosclerosis (deposition of fats on the inner walls of the arteries), can cause blood clots and blockage of small-caliber arteries, which is the main cause of heart attacks and strokes, contribute to obesity and the development of type 2 diabetes.
Prolonged use of products with added sterols can negatively affect human health, in particular, affect the cholesterol profile of the body, increasing or decreasing cholesterol levels.
Transglutaminase increases the allergenic burden on the human immune system and is especially dangerous for people with gluten intolerance. An increase in the number of cases of transglutaminase use in food has led to the spread of this immune disease in recent years. In addition, a number of studies have linked the use of "meat glue" to an increase in the incidence of Alzheimer's disease. In Russia, the use of this supplement has been prohibited since January 1, 2020. It is also not allowed to use it on the territory of the EAEU.
Why are there more violations in dairy products
The Prosecutor General's Office has already ordered a check on the facts of counterfeit dairy products.
"In order to increase the responsiveness , the prosecutors of the regions of the Russian Federation where these goods are produced have been instructed to organize appropriate inspections and inform you about the results," the agency said in a response to the head of the public council (Izvestia has reviewed the document).
It also states that the execution of orders is controlled by the Prosecutor General's Office.
Chairman of the Presidium of the Association of Retail Trade Companies (ACORT) Stanislav Bogdanov told Izvestia that the retail chains within the organization are conducting a detailed check of the information received, they have also strengthened quality control over dairy products.
— If violations are detected, immediate measures will be taken to eliminate them, up to the removal of goods from implementations. In addition, in case of receiving instructions from regulatory authorities, retailers always strictly follow the received requirements, he noted.
Izvestia sent requests to manufacturing companies and retail chains asking them to comment on the violations. In addition, the editorial board asked the Prosecutor General's Office and the Ministry of Industry and Trade for the timing of the seizure of counterfeit goods, as well as penalties for manufacturers.
The presence of a large volume of low-quality goods on sale was confirmed to Izvestia by the Center for the Development of Advanced Technologies (CRPT, operator of the Honest Sign state labeling system).
"In the first month of 2025, 143.6 million products were blocked at the cash registers of Russian stores due to the labeling system. The main reasons were expired shelf life, incorrect labeling code or attempts to sell several goods under one code, which should indicate an attempt to legalize the products of unscrupulous entrepreneurs," the organization's press service said.
They noted that dairy products took the first place in terms of blocking volumes. During the month, the system did not allow the sale of 49.5 million expired and falsified goods, the Central Trade Center said. Beer came in second place (46.5 million), and tobacco products came in third (29.2 million).
— Dairy products are a popular and affordable food, and consumers tend to pursue cheapness. This is understood by discount stores, which set such conditions for their suppliers so that the price for online deliveries is as low as possible. Therefore, manufacturers are starting to chemicalize and use, for example, vegetable fats or beef fat," Pavel Shapkin, chairman of the National Consumer Rights Protection Union, explained to Izvestia.
According to him, due to the moratorium on inspections in force today, there is no effective supervision, therefore 80% of all detected violations result in a warning to the company as punishment. In these conditions, according to the expert, business is not afraid of anything. An effective measure to combat this, according to the expert, could be the immediate blocking of such goods throughout the country.
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