Taste matters: GOSTs for food processors to be made mandatory
The Ministry of Industry and Trade has proposed amendments to the law on standardization: if product manufacturers use their own technical specifications (TS), they should not contradict GOSTs, Izvestia has learned. In fact, the ministry proposes to make GOSTs mandatory for food producers, abolishing TU. Now there is no such requirement. At the same time, the state standards are outdated, and business claims that some products may eventually disappear from the shelves. What goods may be affected - in the material "Izvestia".
When GOSTs will become mandatory
The Ministry of Industry and Trade proposed to supplement the bill, obliging manufacturers to send for examination the standards of the organization (STO) and technical specifications, according to which they produce goods. Thus, the Ministry believes that food manufacturers in their TU and STO should not establish requirements that impair the characteristics of goods or contradict the conditions of national standards. This follows from the documents prepared for the second reading, "Izvestia" learned.
In fact, the Ministry of Industry and Trade intends to oblige the industry to meet the standards of GOSTs, which are voluntary in Russia. The alcohol industry already has a similar approach: it is impossible to bring alcohol into large retail chains without mandatory compliance with the state standards.
Back in mid-January, the State Duma approved in the first reading amendments to the law on standardization, prepared by United Russia deputies headed by Nadezhda Shkolkina. The document suggests that the authorities will tighten control over the quality of food products: they will oblige companies to send their internal quality standards for state expert review, and then register these documents in the Federal Information Fund of Standards.
Now food manufacturers can produce goods according to GOSTs, or - according to their own TU and STO. And if companies use the state standard, then their products in practice usually correspond to it, according to the explanatory note to the bill. But if the manufacturer uses its own rules, the situation is different: according to expert estimates, the share of products that do not comply with TU and STO, is close to 60-80%. For example, for fish it is 60% for milk - 50%, the document notes.
The government has already supported the bill, having made several comments. For example, the Cabinet of Ministers pointed out that it is necessary to determine which organizations will conduct the state examination of documents TU and STO. In addition, the draft should have a clear date of entry into force, as it is about establishing mandatory requirements.
In Roskachestvo "Izvestia" specified that all products on the market must be safe and comply with technical regulations. In them, regulators have established requirements for microbiology, the content of heavy metals, radionucleides, pesticides and much more. There is another type of documents that describe what the quality of products should be - taste, smell, color, consistency, salt content, fat content, moisture and so on. These are GOSTs and their alternatives - TU and STO.
State standards are public documents, but the content of TU and STO is not visible to anyone except the companies themselves, they are internal business papers, said Petr Shelishch, co-chairman of the Union of Consumers of the Russian Federation, to Izvestia.
- This means that regulators cannot periodically and accurately assess the quality of products manufactured according to them, and they cannot check their compliance with the standards established in the TU," he emphasized.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade told Izvestia that "these proposals arecurrentlyunder discussion".
Development of state standards in cooperation with business
Business should be more actively involved in the development of national standards, this will allow many participants of the process not to reinvent the wheel each time, but to improve it, said Nadezhda Shkolkina.
- In addition, national standards will allow to create equal competitive conditions for all market participants, and the consumer will not have to puzzle over which standard the sausage "Doktorskaya" is produced according to, as well as control and supervisory authorities, - she told "Izvestia". - Now it seems that unscrupulous producers, who produce their products according to technical specifications or STOs, do not seek to comply not only with national standards, but also with mandatory technical regulations.
The largest producers appealed to the Ministry of Agriculture with a request not to support the amendment of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. "Izvestia" got acquainted with the letter of Soyuzmolok, National Meat Association, Rusbrand, Rusprodsoyuz and other associations.
They emphasized that the industry has mandatory technical regulations on the safety of various products, such as milk, fish, poultry and so on. All food products comply with them. But not all products are compliant with GOST, especially newly created products, for which there are no standards yet, because they are revised only once every 10 years.
- As a result, GOSTs do not meet the level of development of science, engineering and technology, advanced domestic and foreign experience, as well as the changing preferences of citizens, so the mandatory national standards of the GOST type were abandoned earlier, - says the letter of associations to the Ministry of Agriculture.
It also notes that the terms "deterioration" or "contradiction" to the standards are rather blurred: if the developer to improve the quality sets a lower content of fat, sugar, salt than specified in the state standard, it would mean a violation of the law. Moreover, the addition of vitamins and minerals, which are not specified in GOSTs, will actually be prohibited until the necessary changes are made.
- This will actually stop the development and production of new products, including enriched and specialized products: baby food, diabetic, functional, sports and so on," they stressed.
Theintroduction of this amendment may lead to the fact that some products will disappear from the shelves, the letter says.
In the Ministry of Agriculture "Izvestia" specified that they have already outlined their comments to colleagues from the Ministry of Industry and Trade, but did not disclose their essence.
For example, the products that have appeared relatively recently do not fit into GOSTs, Roskachestvo specified to Izvestia. These are plant-based drinks, which are increasingly in demand among consumers. Until 2020 there were no GOSTs for this category of products, the first document was formed for drinks from soybeans, and in 2023 developed a standard for plant-based products from grains, nuts, coconut, said the organization.
Rusprodsoyuz added that GOSTs also do not take into account farm products that are created according to individual recipes, which are often much better than the current standards.
Mandatory technical regulations establish only requirements for product safety, often leaving out the issues of usefulness and quality, Oleg Pavlov, head of the Public Consumer Initiative, told Izvestia. That is why attempts to improve the system of technical regulation and standardization have been going on for years, he noted.
- GOSTs are documents of a higher expert level, prepared with the involvement of the scientific community and at the same time, as a rule, taking into account the opinion of the specialized business," he added.
Therefore, it will be quite appropriate that the companies' own specifications do not contradict the national standards. And all possible conflicts can be resolved by revising the relevant GOSTs or adopting new ones, the expert summarized.
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