World meat industry news

The Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation approved the initiative of the expert council under the government of the Russian Federation to introduce a new tax on meat products, reports Izvestia.

This will again affect consumers primarily: it was decided to tax products made from red meat.  The proposal of the expert council can cost the Russians additional 30 percent to the price of the sausages. As the initiators explain, this increase in food prices should make Russians healthier, because the proposal was developed under the program "Strengthening public health", which is part of the national project "Demography". The Ministry of Health, which will ultimately be responsible for the successful implementation of the national project, called for a new tax. However, the specifics are not discussed yet.

The members of the expert council justify their proposal with a concern for the health of citizens.  In their opinion, the population will live longer after such a measure. In this case, the money received from the new tax will be used to reduce the cost of healthy foods. "The excise tax on the products of red meat processing - sausages, bacon - can be more than 160 rubles per kilogram," experts of the expert council explained.

The draft document on the new tax, developed by the expert council, was also sent to the Ministry of Labor. Darya Khalturina, the member of the council,who signed this document, explained that the basis for this decision was the study of Oxford scientists. According to their data  the excessive consumption of red and processed meat leads to death of 2.4 million people  annually.