On June 19, 2025, at the Russian State Agrarian University named after K.A. Timiryazev, under the leadership of Sergey Mitin, First Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Agrarian and Food Policy and Environmental Management, parliamentary hearings were held on the topic: “Development of production and ensuring the quality of food and processing industry products: problems and prospects.”
The event was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Economic Development, Rospotrebnadzor, Rosselkhoznadzor, Rosrybolovstvo, Roskachestvo, Rosstandart, Rosaccreditation, representatives of industry and scientific communities, and more than 60 constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
Members and experts of Rosagropromsoyuz also took part in the hearings.
The meeting participants discussed the problems and prospects of the industry.
Sergey Mitin noted that over the past 10 years, there has been a steady growth in food production, the pace of which outpaces the growth of industrial production. In particular, in 2024, 10.4 million tons of vegetable oil, 9.9 million tons of flour, 6.6 million tons of sugar, 6.3 million tons of bread, about 2 million tons of cereals, 330 thousand tons of butter, and 841 thousand tons of cheese were produced.
It was also noted that the diet of Russians is unbalanced and characterized by a shortage of vegetables — 26% below the norm, fruits — 23% below the norm, and meat and poultry — 20%.
According to him, issues of food security, countering the illegal circulation of counterfeit and falsified food products are under special control of the relevant Committee of the Federation Council.
Attention was drawn to the fact that the system of legal norms, standards, control and supervision mechanisms aimed at minimizing the risks of counterfeit and falsified products appearing on the Russian market is being actively improved. In the period from 2018–2023, several new federal laws regulating the quality of specific product groups were adopted. He expressed the opinion that the responsibility of system users for not entering or providing unreliable information is not legally enshrined, and the authorities authorized to control such information are not defined. "Given the transition to a risk-oriented approach in the system of state control and supervision, it seems appropriate to accelerate work on introducing relevant changes to legislation," the parliamentarian is convinced.
It was noted that the Russian Quality System has established a systematic approach to monitoring various segments of the Russian food market. In combination with the digital labeling tools "Chestny Znak" (Honest Mark), and the digital transformation of the control and supervisory activities of Rosselkhoznadzor and Rospotrebnadzor, such work yields results.
It was stated that the use of artificial intelligence technology allowed Rosselkhoznadzor to reduce data analysis time by 30 times, increasing the coverage of the analysis sample by 5 thousand times, and the effectiveness of administrative and preventive measures increased by more than 165 times. According to industry experts, due to the introduction of digital systems and stricter penalties, the share of falsified products in meat products decreased to 10–15%, in dairy products – to 10–12%, and in fish – to 15–20%.
An opinion was expressed on the need to work on additional protection of the Russian food market from unfair competition from foreign manufacturers, as well as the market for bottled drinking water.
The event was attended by representatives of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia, the Ministry of Education and Science, the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Economic Development, Rospotrebnadzor, Rosselkhoznadzor, Rosrybolovstvo, Roskachestvo, Rosstandart, Rosaccreditation, representatives of industry and scientific communities, and more than 60 constituent entities of the Russian Federation.
Members and experts of Rosagropromsoyuz also took part in the hearings.
The meeting participants discussed the problems and prospects of the industry.
Sergey Mitin noted that over the past 10 years, there has been a steady growth in food production, the pace of which outpaces the growth of industrial production. In particular, in 2024, 10.4 million tons of vegetable oil, 9.9 million tons of flour, 6.6 million tons of sugar, 6.3 million tons of bread, about 2 million tons of cereals, 330 thousand tons of butter, and 841 thousand tons of cheese were produced.
It was also noted that the diet of Russians is unbalanced and characterized by a shortage of vegetables — 26% below the norm, fruits — 23% below the norm, and meat and poultry — 20%.
According to him, issues of food security, countering the illegal circulation of counterfeit and falsified food products are under special control of the relevant Committee of the Federation Council.
Attention was drawn to the fact that the system of legal norms, standards, control and supervision mechanisms aimed at minimizing the risks of counterfeit and falsified products appearing on the Russian market is being actively improved. In the period from 2018–2023, several new federal laws regulating the quality of specific product groups were adopted. He expressed the opinion that the responsibility of system users for not entering or providing unreliable information is not legally enshrined, and the authorities authorized to control such information are not defined. "Given the transition to a risk-oriented approach in the system of state control and supervision, it seems appropriate to accelerate work on introducing relevant changes to legislation," the parliamentarian is convinced.
It was noted that the Russian Quality System has established a systematic approach to monitoring various segments of the Russian food market. In combination with the digital labeling tools "Chestny Znak" (Honest Mark), and the digital transformation of the control and supervisory activities of Rosselkhoznadzor and Rospotrebnadzor, such work yields results.
It was stated that the use of artificial intelligence technology allowed Rosselkhoznadzor to reduce data analysis time by 30 times, increasing the coverage of the analysis sample by 5 thousand times, and the effectiveness of administrative and preventive measures increased by more than 165 times. According to industry experts, due to the introduction of digital systems and stricter penalties, the share of falsified products in meat products decreased to 10–15%, in dairy products – to 10–12%, and in fish – to 15–20%.
An opinion was expressed on the need to work on additional protection of the Russian food market from unfair competition from foreign manufacturers, as well as the market for bottled drinking water.