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- Good riddance is expensive: a prison sentence will be imposed for the production and sale of food adulteration
Good riddance is expensive: a prison sentence will be imposed for the production and sale of food adulteration
The activists proposed to introduce prison sentences for the production and sale of food adulteration, having prepared appropriate amendments to the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and other legal acts. They ask the Prosecutor General's Office to take additional measures to protect consumer rights and oblige retail chains to check goods for their compliance with quality. According to the Rosselkhoznadzor, the share of counterfeiting in dairy products alone reached a maximum in 2025 among retailers — about 18%. Tougher penalties are supported by the State Duma's security and economic policy committees, which believe that the new rules should stop intruders from producing and selling fakes.
Why do they want to increase responsibility for counterfeiting
In Russia, responsibility for the deliberate production and sale of food adulteration may be tightened. The Moscow Consumer Protection Society has made such a proposal to Prosecutor General Alexander Gutsan. In a document that Izvestia has, signed by the head of the organization, Anton Nedzvetsky, it is proposed to amend the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, increasing the punishment for manufacturers and retailers.
"Particularly serious crimes requiring actual imprisonment should be recognized as cases of supply of counterfeit goods to state social institutions, as well as the commission of these acts by an organized group of persons by prior commercial agreement (supplier — trading network)," the document says.
As the public figures explain, the current administrative fines, which today do not exceed 500 thousand rubles, are not enough, since they do not have a deterrent effect and do not prevent the commission of such violations. In addition, it is proposed to amend legislation requiring retail chains to check all suppliers of products for possible counterfeiting.
The reason for such concern in the Moscow Society for Consumer Protection is explained by systemic violations on the part of businesses, which, according to them, often "deliberately substitutes authentic food raw materials." They also note that the audit of the state information system FGIS "Unified Register of Control (Supervisory) Measures" clearly demonstrates that over the past few years, enterprises have received dozens of official warnings from the competent supervisory authorities (Rospotrebnadzor and Rosselkhoznadzor) on the facts of confirmed falsification.
However, taking advantage of restrictions on business inspections and minor administrative fines, the violators did not stop their illegal commercial activities, the document emphasizes. Among the retail chains that, according to public figures, ignore the mandatory quality control of goods are Dobrotsen, Svetofor, Lenta, Magnit, Spar, and Dixy. Izvestia sent inquiries to the companies.
"The systematic conclusion of multimillion—dollar contracts with enterprises that have dozens of official warnings about falsification in their public profile is direct evidence of the cynical admission of outright surrogates to store shelves solely for the sake of corporate windfalls," the activists say and suggest that law enforcement agencies conduct an inspection of retail chains.
Izvestia sent a request to the Prosecutor General's Office with a request to comment on the prospects for supporting the proposals. In January 2025, it was reported that, by order of the then head of the department, Igor Krasnov, prosecutors conducted checks on the implementation of legislation in the field of quality assurance and food safety. The facts of non-compliance with the conditions and terms of storage, non-compliance with the requirements of technical regulations, lack of labeling and accompanying documents, including their forgery, failure to ensure the traceability of raw materials, as well as improper control over incoming goods were revealed.
Thus, three criminal cases were initiated in the Kurgan region under Part 1 of Article 327 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Forgery of documents") in connection with the supply of products with fictitious accompanying documents to hospitals. In St. Petersburg, 232 schoolchildren fell ill with acute intestinal infection due to violations of sanitary rules in catering. As a result of the inspection, a criminal case was opened under Part 1 of Article 236 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Violation of sanitary and epidemiological rules").
The concern of public figures is confirmed by the Rosselkhoznadzor data. By the end of 2025, the agency recorded a record increase in counterfeiting in dairy products in recent years. It was almost 18%.
Pros and cons of increased liability
Counterfeiting on the shelves of retail chains is an acute and socially significant problem, said Anatoly Vyborny, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Security and Anti—Corruption.
— This is not just a deception of the consumer, but a direct threat to national security. Moreover, when counterfeit dairy products or surrogate semi–finished meat products end up in hospitals, kindergartens and schools, the most vulnerable categories are under attack - children, the sick, the elderly. This is a direct threat to their health and life," he explained to Izvestia.
The MP agrees that the size of the fine is negligible for large players in the market, so they are not interested in putting barriers in the way of falsified products.
— Therefore, the initiatives proposed by public figures deserve attention. The punishment should be severe if such counterfeit food products are supplied to kindergartens, schools, hospitals and other social institutions. Of course, trade should not thoughtlessly sell goods to consumers that have not passed a preliminary safety check, and if it sells them and makes a profit, then the punishment should be appropriate," emphasized Anatoly Vyborny.
Artem Kiryanov, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Economic Policy, agrees with this opinion.
— Despite the measures already taken, we still see that cases of counterfeit sales are quite common. I think everyone remembers the outbreak of botulism or poisoning with products from stores," the deputy recalled.
According to him, the introduction of strict liability for retail chains for the sale of such goods at the level of the law is seen as necessary to protect the health of our citizens.
ACORT member retail chains support initiatives aimed at increasing market transparency and product traceability from production to checkout, Stanislav Bogdanov, chairman of the Association of Omnichannel Retail Companies, told Izvestia.
— Federal retail chains have a multi-stage quality control system for their products, which includes inspections at each stage of product distribution, as well as a system of regular inspections and audits of suppliers. Due to this, cases of falsification are minimized.
Individual violations may occur due to the unscrupulous behavior of a supplier or distributor, who first passed all the checks, and then replaced part of the batch during the work. Such violations are revealed during laboratory inspections of the network itself, the Rosselkhoznadzor and Rospotrebnadzor," the trade representative explained.
According to him, if a fake is detected, the network immediately stops working with such a supplier.
All food products taken for sale are checked through the state digital labeling systems — GIS MT (Honest Sign), FGIS Mercury and others.
— If a product has problems with the sales report during the sale, the cashier will block such an item and it will be impossible to sell it. If the cash register allows you to make a purchase, then the products, according to information systems, are made only from registered natural raw materials," said Stanislav Bogdanov, who reported that the number of laboratory tests in large networks increased by about 10% in 2025 and reached an average of 30 thousand. Against this background, the retail chains included in ACORT record a noticeable decrease in customer complaints about the quality and freshness of goods compared to the previous year.
He also stated that in order to strengthen quality control of dairy products at the industry-wide level, AKORT and Soyuzmoloko signed the Charter of Dairy Market Participants in November 2025, which introduces a system of mutual inspections through state accredited laboratories.
— Magnit has a multi-level quality control system, which, among other things, is aimed at preventing the appearance of counterfeit goods on store shelves. Control is carried out both during the introduction of goods into the assortment, and in the processes of their acceptance, storage and sale, " the press service of the retail chain told Izvestia.
They also noted that the company cooperates with responsible suppliers, which does not preclude conducting audits of their production facilities and regular independent laboratory tests of products.
"Last year, we conducted almost a thousand audits and tens of thousands of laboratory tests of our suppliers' products," the press service said, emphasizing that every year, based on the analysis of statistics on quality problems, a risk matrix is formed, according to which the frequency and depth of quality control in relation to suppliers and specific product groups is regulated.
— We constantly carry out selective quality and safety control of suppliers' products as part of the production control program, as well as organize unscheduled laboratory examinations and supplier audits. All products delivered to Lenta Group stores are accompanied by the necessary documents confirming the quality and safety of the goods, the press service of another retailer said.
They also reported that they sell goods marked "Honest mark", which guarantees the authenticity of the goods.
Georgy Ostapkovich, Research Director of the HSE Center for Market Research, believes that it is possible to increase penalties and criminalize those who commit such offenses systematically. However, it is not advisable to seriously increase the penalties for all market participants, as it is not easy for trade to control large shipments of goods. In his opinion, it is best if the business itself realizes that it values reputation, and it will contact questionable suppliers.
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