Consumers concerned over simplified food safety certification

Food control and safety will now become a major concern as the centralized system of certifying food quality in Russia has been abolished.

The step is expected to cut red tape, fight corruption and boost competition, but consumers foresee a flood of low-quality produce coming to market.

Experts fear the quality of food will go down significantly.

“The situation will get worse. It's now become more unprofitable for food producers to invest money into improving quality. So even those who do care about their goods will have to spend less on quality checks to keep up with the competition,” Nadezhda Golovkova, co-chair of the Consumers Union of Russia told RT.

The rules for certifying goods has been simplified, but the penalty for those food producers failing to comply with the safety regulations remain the same – the producer pays a fine.

“The government's policy is very logical – why spend resources on a piece of paper that doesn't mean anything. But there must be a very convincing argument to force everyone to comply – and that argument can only be a heavy fine, so that it's less profitable to break the law,” Golovkova said.

Experts warn consumers to be extra-careful when buying food.

“Basically, every consumer can only rely on him or herself in terms of safe food. Especially avoid buying prepackaged food. Go for products you can touch and smell, so if it's not fresh you will know it right away,” Golovkova said.