Lukashenko is outraged by the quality of goods in rural shops in Belarus

Grocery stores in the villages of Belarus are not of good quality, and inspections conducted there confirm repeated violations. President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko expressed his indignation at this fact on August 7.

The situation was discussed at a meeting on providing the rural population with a wide range of goods to meet their needs. Lukashenko recalled that in 2025, a decree was issued in Belarus to increase the social responsibility of trade entities in rural areas, as well as improve the quality of trade services for the population there.

"There are plenty of shops and shopping malls in Minsk and regional centers, and the competition there is high. But the villagers are not spoiled at all. <...> Overdue, rotten, and so on. This is simply outrageous and unacceptable," the BelTA news agency quoted him as saying.

According to the State Control Committee, in the first six months of 2026, violations were detected in 90% of outlets out of 1,021 retail facilities.

"Simply put, if you want to collect cream and profits in big cities and the capital, take responsibility for remote villages," Lukashenko added.

Hey, we're rotting: who is buying up expired products by the ton and why

Dishonest merchants give products a "second life"

On July 28, the Rosselkhoznadzor restricted the import of two shipments of pork fat with a total volume of 43.6 tons from Belarus. It was clarified that the products were planned to be delivered from Belarus to Kazakhstan through the territory of Russia. According to the service, the Belarusian company Veles-Mit tried to carry out transportation using a fake veterinary certificate.