Russia adopts new rules to improve meat quality

The Russian government aims to improve the quality of domestic meat industry products through the adoption of a new technical regulation.

Under the new regulations, all meat products will be divided into categories depending on the content of lean meat (meat without bones and fat). For instance, only those sausages where the content of lean meat is no less than 60% will be labeled as "meat product."

However, most Russian industry analysts are skeptical about the prospects of the new regulations.

Anaylsts stated, that unlike the EU countries, where the quality and safety of meat products is controlled by the producers themselves, in Russia the responsibility for this rests on the government and in particular Russian Agency for Health and Consumer Rights (Rospotrebnadzor). As such, control is often ineffective and tardy.

Also, the system of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points which is currently widely used in the EU and the US; is almost never used in Russia due to its cost. In addition to this, HACCP requires annual confirmation from the producers.