The expert called an effective way to detect fraud in school canteens.

Schools and other social institutions cannot carry out an examination of food products on their own. However, it is very important to do this — without laboratory tests, it is impossible to check products for microbiology and adulteration. Sergey Maslov, vice president of the Institute of Industrial Nutrition, told Izvestia about this, adding that the most effective way to check products before they reach school canteens is to purchase them through distribution and logistics centers equipped with laboratories. They have already appeared, in particular, in Vologda and Samara.

"The centers accept goods, carry out entrance quality control and transport assembled batches of various goods to each institution," the source told the editorial office.

There is a similar system in Moscow.: Laboratory control of all groups of goods supplied to catering facilities is carried out there. The actual cost is 72 million rubles per year or 0.22 rubles per person per day, while the cost of meals in schools is about 140 rubles. At the same time, both the supervisory authorities and the customer receive information about the results of laboratory control.

"The number of counterfeit shipments detected directly depends on the degree of centralization of food purchases in social nutrition. There is practically no falsification in regions with a high degree of centralization: Tatarstan, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Krasnodar Krai. Moreover, in these conditions, the share of local products is growing significantly, and cases of falsification are most common in shipments from other regions with repeated changes in the ownership of products," explained Sergey Maslov.

Read more in the Izvestia article:

Food doesn't come alone: how to stop counterfeit supplies to schools