World meat industry news

Russian stores and retail chains may be required to create “social” shelves with free food. According to the Izvestia newspaper, a corresponding bill is planned to be submitted to the State Duma.

This proposal was voiced by deputies of the “A Just Russia – For Truth” faction. We are talking about food products that are past their expiration date. Pensioners and other categories of socially unprotected citizens with low income will have the right to pick them up free of charge from separate counters. To do this, they must provide documents confirming their status such as a pension certificate, income certificates and others. How the system will identify them and generally function has not yet been reported. Also, to facilitate the implementation of the project, tax breaks will be introduced to business representatives participating in it. If such an initiative is adopted, its authors will make appropriate amendments to the law “On the Fundamentals of State Regulation of Trade Activities in the Russian Federation.”

The deputies explained the need for such an extent by the problem of irrational use of food surpluses. They, in particular, recalled Rosstat data, according to which the largest volume of food waste comes from such essential goods as grain, dairy and vegetable products. At the same time, they noted that in general more than a third of food in the country becomes waste. The same agency noted that last year there were 14.3 million Russians below the poverty line. The authors of the initiative also provided research data from other organizations. For example, according to estimates by the National Research University Higher School of Economics, the annual volume of food waste in the country is 17 million tons, and their value for the same period is 1.6 trillion rubles. According to TIAR Center estimates, there is enough food wasted in the country to feed about 30 million people. “At the same time, 60.4% of citizens pay about half of their monthly income for food, almost all of their earnings go to food for 16,” the deputies added.

The Ministry of Industry and Trade has already learned about the new proposal. They said they generally approved of it but wanted to study it in more detail. Business representatives and experts also expressed their readiness to support such a bill. However, some of them, including some retailers, said that the creation of separate shelves for such products should be voluntary.