Table Lies: How suppliers adulterate food in schools and hospitals
Falsification of products was detected in Omsk school and hospital canteens — according to the local Rosselkhoznadzor administration, 22% of samples did not meet the standards. It turned out, for example, that suppliers used chicken meat instead of beef, and the fat content and composition of dairy products were violated. Saving on food in social nutrition is a common problem, but in some regions they have already learned how to deal with it. Details can be found in the Izvestia article.
Is product adulteration common
Rosselkhoznadzor in the Omsk region took 77 samples of animal products in schools, hospitals and boarding schools. It turned out that 17 of them (22%) have signs of falsification.
For example, in dairy products — butter, cottage cheese, kefir and cheese — deviations in fatty acid composition were found. In meat products — meatballs, cutlets and beef liver — a substitution of meat was revealed, which was stated: instead of beef DNA, chicken and pork were found. And in minced meat, chicken breast and liver, pathogens of salmonellosis and listeriosis have been found.
After the inspection, the agency cancelled the production certificates of the manufacturers of products in the Mercury system, issued warnings and suspended the declarations of conformity.
A similar situation is being faced all over the country. For example, in 2024, systematic violations were reported in the Saratov region: most of them were related to the falsification of dairy products in military units and educational institutions. The substitution of one type of meat for another was noticed in the Trans-Baikal Territory. And in Kansk, Krasnoyarsk Territory, after 25 people fell ill in one school, shipments of products for which traceability was not ensured were revealed — veterinary accompanying documents for products of animal origin simply were not issued.
How to save money on products for children
The Institute of Industrial Nutrition told Izvestia that the main method of saving is to reduce or exclude expensive raw materials from the menu — for example, fruits — and replace them with cheaper ones (just chicken instead of beef).
— There are schools, kindergartens and hospitals where food is supplied. Purchases are made there through auctions and contests. During auctions, the price falls below the cost from the manufacturer. As a result, since the institutions do not have a centralized warehouse, they cannot check whether the butter or margarine was brought. And unscrupulous entrepreneurs bring what is cheaper," the institute's experts explained.
In other social institutions, meals are outsourced. However, contests are also held there, where those who offer a lower price for products also win.
— As a result, major players simply do not go to such auctions, as they value their reputation. The bidding process is between companies and sole proprietors who do not have centralized warehouses, factories, facilities to conclude production control agreements with government agencies, etc. And as a result, they start saving money: they replace milk with dairy products, butter with margarine, etc.," the Institute of Industrial Nutrition pointed out the problem.
At the same time, the logic of falsification, as noted by Valery Alekseev, an expert of the Popular Front, is almost always the same: to replace expensive raw materials with cheaper ones. But this is done in fact, not according to documents.
— Beef is indicated in the contract and invoices, but in fact cheaper components turn out to be in the product — chicken, pork, mechanically deboned meat, offal or other additives. It is almost impossible for a child, parent, patient, or even an employee of an institution to notice a substitution. The finished cutlet remains a cutlet, and what exactly is inside cannot be determined without a laboratory," the source told Izvestia.
For vegetables, fruits, cereals and groceries, savings often come through a banal reduction in quality: they supply products of a different grade, with a high percentage of waste, with signs of improper storage, frozen, less fresh or with worse consumer properties, the specialist added.
Alexander Safronov, deputy of the Krasnodar City Duma, spoke about such situations, in particular. He contacted the regional prosecutor's office after he received information about violations in catering in the city's schools. The parliamentarian showed photos of rotten products (spoiled peaches, for example), which were allegedly purchased at prices significantly higher than market prices.
What is the problem of saving on products?
Replacing the composition of products in social nutrition can have serious consequences for children or hospital patients, warned Yulia Malevannaya, General Director of the Research Institute of Functional Nutrition.
— Children's and dietary diets require milk fat as a source of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E) and phospholipids necessary for the development of the brain and nervous system. Therefore, reducing fat content and replacing it with cheap vegetable fats in cottage cheese and butter leads to impaired bone formation (calcium without vitamin D is not absorbed) and disruptions in the digestive tract. And for hospital patients in the postoperative period, such "empty" milk is a slowdown in regeneration and hormonal disruptions," she told Izvestia.
A similar problem arises with meat substitution, when pork and chicken are given instead of beef, and especially if collagen fat, soy and offal are added to the cutlets.
— Beef in medical and baby food is a key source of heme iron and high—quality protein with a complete amino acid profile. Pork and chicken (especially the cheap categories) contain an excess of saturated fats. When beef is taken away from a child at school or a patient in a hospital, replacing it, for example, with pork skin with soy, the process of chronic iron deficiency anemia and protein deficiency is triggered," explained Yulia Malevannaya, adding that for a growing organism this can mean "decreased cognitive abilities and weak immunity."
Saving on fruits and vegetables, according to her, is a blow to the intestinal microbiota, on which the general immune system depends. In a hospital room, micronutrient deficiency slows down the recovery process and increases the length of hospitalization.
The necessary requirements for social nutrition in Russia have been formulated, the expert added. SanPiNs and guidelines describe the consumption rates of proteins, fats, carbohydrates and calories to tenths, there is a list of mandatory products: meat (beef, not "animal protein"), fish, milk of a specific fat content, cottage cheese without substitutes, fresh fruits.
— The requirements on paper may be perfect, but at the stage of public procurement, concepts are being substituted, — said the editorial interlocutor. — A supplier who wins a tender due to dumping inevitably starts looking for ways to cheat and survive. And instead of "beef", they write "frozen meat raw materials" in the application. Instead of "72.5% butter" — "fat product". And technical regulations often allow counterfeit products to be called almost like a real product.
How to deal with counterfeit products
The problem, according to Yulia Malevannaya, lies in the lack of strict entrance controls at food stores and the responsibility of specific individuals for counterfeiting. According to her, those who accept food should have the right and duty to reject low-quality food, and not cook from what they have, simply because "the money is spent, there is nothing to feed."
However, as Valery Alekseev emphasized, a significant part of the violations is not visible during normal acceptance. A school, hospital, or boarding school can check the documents, packaging, expiration dates, appearance, odor, temperature, and compliance with the invoice.
— There are indirect signs of a poor-quality product: a strange smell, color, consistency, too watery or "rubbery" product, complaints from children about the taste, mass rejection of the dish, signs of spoilage, a large percentage of waste from vegetables and fruits. All this should be recorded by acts, photographs, appeals to the catering organizer and the supervisory authorities," the expert pointed out.
But it is impossible to determine the fatty acid composition of the oil or the presence of undeclared raw materials in the meat product by eye, he added. This requires a laboratory.
The Institute of Industrial Nutrition, however, believes that savings with food replacement often occur without adulteration. Beef is exchanged for chicken, cottage cheese for milk, and fruit is even officially exchanged for bread. The institute's experts cite the lack of control over the implementation of standards as the reason: the fact is that the menu is checked only for proteins, fats and carbohydrates, and not according to the standards for meat, fish, vegetables, etc.
The organization explains that the existing tender system for purchasing products is price-oriented. The requirements for quality and safety are uniform, but there are no specific parameters that can be defined in the tender documentation for the purchase of products and then compare the bids of the participants. Experts are sure that this is impossible: it is difficult to evaluate the proposal at the competition, relatively speaking, by the proportion of vegetable fats in cow's oil. And even if the participants are required to provide samples of the supplied products, this will not stop them from supplying counterfeit products in the future.
— It is virtually impossible to really solve the problem of quality control of delivered products without centralizing orders and controls. Although such centralization is allowed under Federal Law No. 44, and the right of a subject to require it when allocating subsidies for school meals is reflected in the decree on free hot meals, the Institute of Industrial Nutrition emphasizes.
Traceability systems allow you to see the movement of products, but do not guarantee that inside the package is exactly what is written in the documents, said Valery Alekseev. The actual composition of the product is confirmed only by laboratory testing.
Examinations of products before their use in nutrition can dramatically reduce counterfeiting, the Institute of Industrial Nutrition confirms. Experts cite the food safety structure in Moscow as an example. In the capital, any product, before it gets to the children's table, first arrives at the warehouse and is "quarantined" there — it cannot be used immediately. Specialists of the Moscow State Inspectorate for the Quality of Agricultural Products, Raw Materials and foodstuffs take analyses of each batch of products. If everything complies with the standards, the admission of products to social institutions is allowed. Similar systems operate in Samara, Vologda and some other regions.
— Only such a constant, daily relationship and a specific, strict responsibility of food operators and suppliers of products with their own infrastructure, customers and state control authorities can ensure the safety and quality of the supplied products, close the access of counterfeit products to schools and other institutions. There is no other option, the institute is confident.
It could also help to expand the powers of the Rosselkhoznadzor, which, even after discovering traceability contradictions in the Mercury system, still does not have the right to take samples at school, experts add.
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