Russia will introduce a ban on the use of genetically modified products, which have long been abandoned in many EU countries.

What other products are banned in the West, but are sold freely in Russia? Isn't it time to ban them here? Tells Oleg Medvedev, professor at Moscow State University, head of the National Center for Healthy Nutrition.

GMO products

— They were created as “food for the poor” - they planned to feed the starving population of Africa. Then experts decided that they were the future (they are stored for a long time, are not afraid of pests and allow you to get a high yield). As a result, some countries (Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay) abandoned soybean seeds and completely devoted their fields to GMO crops.

Later, scientists recognized that the long-term consequences of using GMO products are difficult to predict and can lead to an increase in various diseases. Switzerland, Germany, Serbia, etc. have declared themselves GMO-free zones. Now.

Products with synthetic hormones

(meat and meat products)

Banned in the European Union, Australia, Canada, Israel and New Zealand.

Hormones are to animal husbandry what protein shakes are to bodybuilding enthusiasts. They help to achieve rapid weight gain in animals, and the use of growth hormone helps increase milk production. It has been convincingly proven that hormones that enter the human body can cause breast, colon and prostate cancer.

Theoretically, in Russia the use of hormones in animal husbandry is prohibited by law, but meat grown on the domestic market, unlike imported meat, is not subject to control.

Products with artificial trans fats

(leaders in content are part of margarines and spreads, hydrogenated vegetable oil, semi-finished products, chips, long-lasting confectionery)

Trans fats began to be widely used in the 50s of the last century, in the wake of the fight against harmful animals with saturated fats. Trans fats were positioned as a safe replacement. However, it quickly became clear that they accumulate in the body and this leads to the occurrence of severe diseases (diabetes, atherosclerosis), memory impairment, and also a decrease in the ability to conceive.

WHO experts believe that there is no minimum safe level of trans fat consumption and the only way out is to ban them completely. Despite protests from the food industry (the use of trans fats makes food production cheaper), many countries have introduced restrictions on the content of these dangerous substances in food products, and in Denmark, Austria, Sweden, Iceland, Norway and Finland, trans fats are completely prohibited. The US Food and Drug Administration has also ordered the food industry to eliminate all trans fats within three years. There is a danger that foreign manufacturers will redirect their products to Russia, where the content of trans fats is not controlled at all.

In Europe, food bans for political reasons also exist. In particular, for ethical reasons the following is prohibited:
Foie gras
The French delicacy, which came under sanctions in Russia, is also prohibited in all EU countries (except France and Hungary), Turkey and Israel. The ban is associated with cruelty to animals - the liver is obtained by forcibly overfeeding the bird (because of this, the liver - the basis of foie gras - enlarges).
horsemeat
Banned in the USA, Ireland, Australia and Canada.
This ban has nothing to do with harm or benefit - eating horse meat is not encouraged by the Catholic Church. In the USA and England it is prohibited to eat sports animals.

Products with artificial colors

(cookies, ice cream, dry snacks, desserts)

The fact that natural dyes from vegetables and fruits are better than artificial ones is obvious to everyone. However, even among the unhealthy artificial ones there are potentially dangerous ones that are prohibited everywhere except in Russia.

These include E102 (tartrazine), a bright orange dye. Used in yoghurt, ice cream, soups, chips. May cause runny nose, nausea, and abdominal pain. Particularly undesirable for allergy sufferers (risk of asthma attack). E142 is a synthetic green dye. Used in the manufacture of canned peas, ice cream, desserts, candies and confectionery, minced fish, seasonings. Added to mustard, fish roe, edible coatings of cheeses and sausages. Systematic consumption can lead to serious allergic reactions.

E425 - food stabilizer, thickener. It is used in the preparation of marmalade, fruit jelly, preserves, jam, fruit filling for candies, etc. In the European Union and the United States, after the media hype about several cases of suffocation in young children, a ban was even introduced.

Raw milk

Banned in Canada and 22 US states. Fresh milk, which was recently considered beneficial, has been found to transmit dangerous infections (extrapulmonary tuberculosis and tick-borne encephalitis). In addition, milk disrupts the blood clotting process, deteriorates its quality and can lead to severe anemia.

In Russia raw milk sold in farm stores and markets. Retail chains do not accept it for sale due to short term suitability.

Farmed Salmon

Banned in Australia and New Zealand.

Fish bred in captivity are deprived of most beneficial properties. She is fed mainly with waste; yeast is also added to the food (for rapid growth) and dyes (to give natural color). Eating salmon raised in captivity can lead to nervous system disorders and cancer.

Members of the Public Chamber (PC) of the Russian Federation applied to the Federal Customs Service (FCS) of the Russian Federation with a request to initiate a criminal case regarding the smuggling of sanctioned products into Russian territory (the appeal is available to Izvestia). According to Pavel Sychev, a member of the public control commission of the RF OP, the Perekrestok and Green Crossroads stores, as well as a number of small local retailers, still sell prohibited dairy products from Europe, in particular Lithuanian milk porridges, French and German yoghurts.

Also, a member of the RF OP notified the head of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation, Yuri Chaika, about his request to the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation and asked to take personal control of the current situation (the appeal is also available to Izvestia). The department stated that the appeal of the OP RF will be considered in the prescribed manner and within the established time frame.

As Pavel Sychev said, during checks of the RF OP it turned out that products prohibited for import remain on store shelves.

All of them were packed after August 7, 2014. These are products offered in stores such as Perekrestok, Green Crossroads, and Pyaterochka. Moreover, we find sanction even in small stores on the first floors of apartment buildings,” says Sychev. - How it gets on the shelves is still unclear. We need to find those responsible for smuggling.

According to Sychev, among the sanctioned products sold in Russian stores in January, there were Lithuanian milk porridges, French and German yoghurts, as well as Spanish olives and jamon.

The barcodes on these products indicate that they were produced and packaged in Europe after retaliatory sanctions from our country came into force, Sychev noted. - That is, there was no way the products could get onto store shelves legally. And both customs officers and suppliers may be to blame. Corruption cannot be ruled out.

The head of the public relations department of X5 Retail Group (Perekrestok, Pyaterochka, Karusel chain stores), Vladimir Rusanov, in turn, denied the presence of sanctioned products on the shelves.

We are closely monitoring this: we do not have any prohibited products,” says Rusanov. - As for milk porridges and canned olives, they are not included in the sanctions list approved by the Russian government.

According to the decree of the Government of the Russian Federation dated August 7, 2014, agricultural products, raw materials and food whose countries of origin are the USA, EU countries, Canada, Australia and Norway are prohibited from being imported into Russia for 1 year. In particular, “cattle meat, fresh or chilled” (frozen as well), “fresh, chilled or frozen pork,” and the same for poultry are prohibited from importing; “meat salted, in brine, dried or smoked”; “fish and crustaceans, shellfish and other aquatic invertebrates”, “milk and dairy products”, “vegetables, edible roots and tubers”, “fruits and nuts”, “sausages and similar products of meat, meat offal or blood”, “prepared food products made on their basis”, “finished products, including cheeses and cottage cheese based on vegetable fats” and “milk-containing products based on vegetable fats”.

Subsequently, some product items were excluded from the final list due to the lack of possibilities for import substitution or replacement with supplies from other countries. Among other things, the “sanctions barrier” was opened for: salmon fry, seed potatoes, lactose-free milk and its derivatives (including some cheeses), protein concentrates of animal and plant origin (for example, sports nutrition), dietary supplements, mineral, vitamin and other additives.

Note that all goods are classified using the commodity nomenclature of foreign economic activity of the Customs Union (TN FEA), with the help of which you can determine whether the product is allowed for import. All embargoed products also have such codes.

As explained by the press service of the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation, European jamon is indeed prohibited for import into Russia, unlike olives and milk porridges, the ban on which is partial.

Jamon falls under the category of embargoed products, having HS 0210 (“salted, brined, dried or smoked meat.” - Izvestia), the department reported. - Olives cannot be imported if they are canned for short-term storage (HS 0711) and in this form are unsuitable for consumption. If they are preserved for long-term storage, then their import into Russia is free. Milk porridges may or may not be allowed for import - everything will depend on their composition. If they are lactose-free, then they can be imported, but if they contain lactose, then no. The same goes for yoghurts.

At the same time, the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation stated that consideration of issues regarding the initiation of criminal cases is not commented on.

Despite the August ban, during inspections of popular retail chains, representatives of the RF OP continued to find sanctioned goods on the shelves. For example, in the fall of 2014, French shellfish, Norwegian salmon, as well as fermented milk products from Germany, Latvia, France, Italy and Poland were found in the stores “Seventh Continent”, “Azbuka Vkusa” and “Green Crossroads”. In December 2014, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation confirmed the sale of prohibited import products from Europe, packaged after the entry into force of retaliatory sanctions from Russia (August 7, 2014).

As Izvestia reported earlier, after establishing the facts of smuggling, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation turned to the Central Customs Administration of the Federal Customs Service of the Russian Federation with instructions to monitor “compliance with the ban on the import of food.”

In mid-December, the head of Rospotrebnadzor Anna Popova held a meeting with representatives of Russian retail chains. The subject of discussion was the discovery of food products prohibited for import at retail. The chains provided an explanation of how such products could get onto store shelves and assured the head of the sanitary service that they would ensure that embargoed products are not allowed to be sold. Rospotrebnadzor, however, continues inspections both in chain and non-chain stores, as well as at markets and fairs to identify products prohibited for sale from Europe, the USA and Canada.

As explained in Rospotrebnadzor, first of all, accompanying documents are checked, from which one can understand when the product was imported into the territory of the Russian Federation. The department does not rule out that prohibited food products with a long shelf life that were imported before August 2014 may still be on sale.

Let me remind you that the country of origin is the state in whose territory the goods were completely produced or subjected to sufficient processing/processing, which does not include slaughter and butchering of animals, bottling, washing, repackaging, storage and transportation of goods, explains the managing partner of the agro-industrial complex practice, deputy general director of the Consulting group "NEO Center" Anastasia Zalutskaya.

Leading lawyer of the Yurlov and Partners law office, Andrey Kuzmin, said that customs officers, if they allowed the import of prohibited products, can be prosecuted under Article 293 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (“Negligence”).

In this case, a fine is imposed on an individual in the amount of up to 120 thousand rubles or in the amount of wages or arrest for a period of up to three months. Most likely, government employees, if found guilty, will be charged under this article, Kuzmin believes. - It is difficult to say whether this case will be about corruption. Most likely not, because in this case the culprits would have already been found.

Attracting suppliers, according to Kuzmin, will not be easy.

Even if the retail chain names its supplier and provides a contract, he can say that the goods were purchased before retaliatory sanctions came into force or the raw materials were not produced in Europe, the lawyer is sure. - Those who allowed the import of sanctioned products will probably come under close attention.

The lawyer also emphasized that today there is no separate general article for smuggling.

The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation has several articles for the illegal import of cash, monetary instruments, alcoholic beverages and tobacco products, etc. The import of sanctioned products is subject to the Code of Administrative Offenses of the Russian Federation (Article 16.3), that is, only a fine is provided for suppliers (for the fact of moving goods). For citizens it ranges from 1.5–2.5 thousand rubles, for officials - 10–20 thousand rubles, for legal entities - 100–300 thousand rubles,” said Kuzmin. - Logistics companies are unlikely to be at fault, since they are not obliged to find out the origin of the products.

Re-reading the latest whining from some authors about the destruction of contraband products in Russia, which was heard last week, I can’t help but feel bewildered. Of course, I feel very sorry for three dead geese crushed by a bulldozer or 50 ducklings from Kharkov, which were first euthanized and then burned... But excuse me!
Russia had very good teachers in this regard.

For example, France only recently passed a law prohibiting supermarkets from throwing away or destroying unsold products. But that's what they did before. No, to give to the poor! Or starving children in one of their former African colonies. They destroyed them, you bastards!

And here is the latest food vandalism from this country:

This photo looks suspiciously like cheese destruction in Russia, but it was taken last week in France

French farmers destroy cheese (?) imported from another country.

Where are the petitions in defense of the innocently murdered cheese in France? Where are the angry articles on the Echo of Moscow website or the tragic programs on Dozhd?

In Israel, local inspectors scurried around the restaurants of African migrants and poured... bleach...

Israel

The Israeli authorities had to prove that they were fighting unsanitary conditions, not migrants

What about our beloved USA? Here our struggle with Parmesan and jamon will seem like a childish, ridiculous prank compared to what the Americans did at different points in their history. For example, in the 30s, during the Great Depression, when many people were simply dying of hunger, the government somehow purchased 6 million (!) absolutely healthy pigs and simply destroyed them.

I suspect that someone is now thinking that I am a Kremlin bot and am taking these facts, as they say, “out of the blue.” And he will be absolutely wrong. I’m just briefly retelling material that is far from pro-Kremlin BBC Russian service website .

To complete the picture, it’s worth watching the story of the American popular educational channel “Nat Geo,” which talks about the destruction of smuggled products in the United States, including even Russian sausage. At the same time, they are not crushed with a roller, but simply... lowered into the sewer. Eco-friendly, huh...

So there's no point in whining. We are not the first and we are not the last. As for all the “Rains” and other “Eh,” it would be better if they took an interest in the menu of the planned banquet on the occasion of the upcoming Regional Day in the Stavropol Territory, which local officials want to hold. Or the topic of changing the vehicle fleet in the Presidential Administration. This is much more interesting than Yaroslavna’s crying over three innocently crushed geese from the EU.

Britannia

In addition to Rosselkhoznadzor employees, British teachers also have the official right to destroy food.

Moreover, the teacher has the right to search the student’s briefcase to find out what food he brought from home. Schools may also ban certain foods from being brought in altogether. All this is done for promotion healthy eating among children.

The destruction of smuggled food products, as one might expect, raised a wave of indignation in the liberal press.

It’s too convenient a topic not to work on it.

The scheme is simple: at one pole, customs officers crush cheese with rollers, and at the other, someone is malnourished, under-drinking, etc.

A classic situation suitable for inciting discontent with the authorities while shouting: “How can this be, fear God! It would be better if they gave it to the poor, took it to orphanages, and distributed it among the veterans!”

The fact that there is not enough food for everyone is not taken into account.

As well as the fact that tomorrow its flow will dry up, as frightened smugglers will stop trying to illegally enter our market. And no one really thinks about the fact that for distribution it is necessary to create special structures and finance them.

The power of thought among liberals does not extend that far. They should shout something sonorous, daring and listen to the echo with a satisfied look. That's all.

By the way, no one talks about how the West would laugh at the efforts to distribute confiscated food.

Although it can be assumed that there would be no less noise than with Yukos, and the owners of the contraband would immediately run to the ECHR and other fair places to try to recover billions of euros from Russia for the lost goods.

Smuggled products flooded Kaliningrad

At the Kaliningrad customs there is an accumulation of smuggled meat and dairy products from neighboring Poland. Cheap sausages, sausages and cheeses are transported in trucks, cars and even tourist buses. The shuttles hide food in dashboards and under passenger seats. To search for smuggled products, Kaliningrad customs officers had to bring in Labradors.
From one of the warehouses, tons of meat and dairy products will be transported not to stores, but to a specialized landfill. Polish-made products were detained at the border by Kaliningrad customs officers. Large quantities of sausages, pork meat, minced meat, chicken fillet, and pates from border Polish stores were not declared; they tried to illegally import them into the region. Contraband products were collected here and were seized in different time and at various checkpoints, starting in mid-summer. A strong smell indicates that the goods have long expired, but customs officers could not get rid of it before. Only after the decision of the arbitration court did they begin a large-scale destruction operation.
“Rosimushchestvo is destroying, in accordance with the law, these products, which are smuggled. Sausages, sausages, cheeses - everything will be disposed of,” explains Yuri Tsepelev.
There is a real rush at the border: dozens of shuttles manage to travel from Poland to Russia and back several times a day. In Bartoszyce from Bagrationovsk they export gasoline, which is inexpensive by local standards, and bring back meat and dairy products in trunks. Shuttle traders are trying to move as much goods as possible across the border, ignoring existing customs regulations that prohibit the transport of raw meat and limit the import of finished meat products.
Kaliningrad customs has declared war on the illegal sausage business and is actively fighting a new type of smuggling. All cars are now inspected by Labradors trained to look for places where meat products are hidden. Those crossing the border are patiently explained the rules.
To transport as much as possible more products, in the thresholds, between the seats, in the dashboard, in the trunks of cars they make hiding places. Operational footage shows that they are trying to deliver products across the border, without caring about compliance with sanitary standards.
“The Polish citizen did not use a personal car, but a regular one, which was heading to Kaliningrad across the Russian-Polish border,” says Oksana Ivanova, a spokeswoman for Kaliningrad customs. “Even there, in the structural voids of the regular bus, he placed 300 kilograms of meat and sausage products.” .
Kaliningraders and residents of Poland are trying to establish illegal trade in Polish-made products. Cheap Polish sausages, cheeses, and sausages are sold everywhere in the city. They are sold directly from the trunks of cars. Kaliningrad producers and businessmen appealed to the regional authorities with a request to protect the local market from foreign smuggling.
“If I, as a chain retailer, need to officially import the same sausage, I have to pay serious duties,” says Oleg Bolychev. “The price turns out to be 30-40 percent higher than that of the same products that were smuggled.”
So far, the authorities have been unable to cope with the new consumer boom, which is not creating new jobs in the region. The parking lots of Polish stores are filled with cars with Russian license plates.
“We know that only half of these people buy goods for themselves, while others unload everything at the border for those who will go to trade in Kaliningrad. This is a business,” a Polish resident explains the trend.
In anticipation New Year's holidays All regular buses and minibuses at the border are checked using mobile inspection systems. Thanks to this, new shipments of smuggled sausages have already been detained.