How to eliminate cheese makers in Yaroslavl region

With a light hand of the interdistrict Prosecutor's office in middle of October 2016 a small artisan cheese factory of Maria Koval’s farm in the Yaroslavl region has passed Prosecutor's check. In the notice, that came to the enterprise less than 24 hours before the inspection (which itself is a violation of the law by government agencies), it was stated that Interdistrict Prosecutor A. Y. Foltz notifies of the audit with participation of specialists of the Rosselkhoznadzor and Rospotrebnadzor in order to "detect and prevent illegal production and turnover of genetically modified products on the territory of Russia".

We will remind, since July 4, the Federal law No. 358-FZ "On amendments to certain legislative acts of the Russian Federation to improve state regulation in the area of genetic engineering activities" has started to act. This document has tightened the use of GM plants and animals for food production in Russia and hasn’t forbidden to sell GM products if they were not prohibited separately. However, what do GMOs have in common with cheese making? According to experts, now in Russia there are no methods of control of GM products at dairy plants as such, and cheese production is not subjected to the supervision of the legislation on genetic engineering activities. "There are imported enzymes for cheese making, produced by genetic engineering methods. Legally it's forbidden, or, at least, you need to specify it on the label, but many producers evade it", - said Yuriy Sviridenko, Director of Federal state budgetary scientific institution VNIIMS (All-Russian research Institute of meat cattle breeding).

"The problem (of the presence of GMOs in milk – editor’s note) is artificial, as well as the problem of harm of palm oil. That is, the transgenic proteins if they come from food into the digestive tract of cows, they are broken down under the action of enzymes. Transgenic DNA also splits under the action of enzymes into separate smaller fragments that do not bear genetic information. The other proteins synthesized from these fragments come into milk. In our country such studies have not been conducted, but abroad they are very widely used and it has been proven that milk does not have these harmful TRANS-isomers of proteins. They can only come into cheese directly with some herbal supplements, herbs. But it has been proven that they do not bring any harm. There are methods of GMO detection but they are very complex, and in terms of production it is unreal. This requires special equipment," - said Olga Lepilkina, head of the Department of physical chemistry, doctor of technical sciences, senior researcher of Federal state budgetary scientific institution All-Russian research Institute of butter-making and cheese-making.

The founder and owner of the farm Maria Koval stresses that she does her business openly. The cheese factory produces products from natural raw materials and uses the highest quality ingredients. "I have nothing to hide! I use the best raw materials, our chief technologist seriously controls all technological processes of manufacture and ripening of cheese, we have a window in the shop, so anyone can see the conditions where we make our cheeses," commented Maria Koval. Regional agricultural Department supports the enterprise of Maria Koval and the development of her experience. "The cheese, produced by the cheese factory of Maria Koval is a direct example of import substitution", - said Valentine Shishina, Deputy head of the Department of agriculture of Yaroslavl region in September at the international conference.

"We support the manufacture development of quality and healthy products, which are made by the farmers like Maria Koval. Today cheeses made on this farm are popular in the region, we represented the products of Maria Koval at the exhibition "Golden Autumn" and welcome the development of her experience throughout the Yaroslavl region", - said the representative of the Department of agroindustrial complex and consumer market of Yaroslavl region.

However, at the level of the municipality, apparently, the officials live exclusively with their mind, without being interested in the development of domestic production. Initiated by Interdistrict Prosecutor's office the inspection came to the factory, despite the fact that the inspectors didn’t have the audit program in writing, there were no medical books and sanitary clothing. There were no experts on genetic engineering activities in the group of officials. Instead of implementing the purposes of audit "representatives of supervisory authorities began to demand to show documents that are not objects of audit or do not refer to the object of audit, such as the certificate of ownership of the land". The head of the private farm sent a number of complaints about illegal actions of the Prosecutor's office to different organizations, including Commission on Agriculture of the Public chamber of the Russian Federation, the Governor and the Chairman of the government of the Yaroslavl region, the chief Prosecutor of the region (all the complaints are available at The DairyNews).

As follows from the text of the appeal to the chief Prosecutor of Yaroslavl region Yu.V. Verkhovtsev, in the course of the audit, despite its purpose, "the representatives of the supervisory authorities were not able to clearly and accurately identify which activities for monitoring performance of genetically modified activities they intend to carry out, what documents regulating the activities of the enterprise they want to discover."

Taking to account the fact that the representatives of supervisory authorities in the course of the audit did not presented the list of activities to monitor the execution of the legislation on genetic engineering activities of the private farm of Maria Koval, all their demands and requests did not refer to the subject of audit. In fact, the implementation of legislation on genetic engineering activities has not been checked. Instead, the supervisors demanded to provide documents confirming the right of land ownership, certificates for raw materials and finished products, as well as to show production facilities. "The requests from the representatives of the private farm of Maria Koval to explain how they intend to check the compliance with legislation on genetic engineering activities at production facilities were ignored," - said Maria Koval.

By the result of the audit not of a single act was made up, according to the document addressed to the chief Prosecutor of the region. And on November 1, 2016, the Prosecutor's office issued a Resolution on initiation of proceedings on administrative violation for the representative of the private farm of Maria Koval.  

On October 31 the enterprise received a summons to come to the Prosecutor's office on 1 November at 15.00. The chief technologist of the factory came to the Prosecutor's office, as a result, "the private farm has received two notices with fines of 1,500 Roubles from Rospotrebnadzor, and the oral notification, that the Rosselkhoznadzor is making ready 4 acts with the significant amount of the fine, which will be received in a week," - said Maria Koval.

According to the DairyNews we are talking about 4 violations, each of which, as the representative of the district Prosecutor's office informed the entrepreneur orally, will be fined in the amount of 150 thousand Roubles. "I regard this warning as a hint about the possibility to resolve the problem in an informal way," - said Maria Koval in her appeal to the authorities of the region.

According to the experts interviewed by The DairyNews, the situation requires careful analysis, including the one from the competent lawyers. As it became known to The DairyNews, by the results of the audit, the enterprise was informed about the following violations: the absence of agreement about the rodent control and the absence of notification of the beginning of activities that does not relate to the control of GM products. Now instead of dealing exclusively with the development of small business that provides jobs in the village and promotes high-quality domestic products, the management of the private farm is forced to spend time and nerves to fight unjustified and illegal inspections.

"According to the law, requirements of the Rosselkhoznadzor relate to agricultural enterprises, and refer to raw materials for processing enterprises. Therefore, the audit should not take place without reason. And for the supervision of processing plants and products there is the Rospotrebnadzor and the certification bodies. Small enterprises often do not know the legislation, and it is not easy to come with such an audit to large factories," said Gavriil Gavrilov, Director of State budgetary institution of Yaroslavl region Yaroslavl State Institute of quality of raw materials and food products.

According to the regional Department of agriculture, in 2016 the volume of cheese production in the Yaroslavl region has increased. The regional authorities stress that they support the development of small agrarian business and the support in such areas as the development of family farms and beginning farmers will continue.

"If we talk about "The cheese factory of Maria Koval," they are getting ready to participate in the competition for a grant as a family cattle farm in three areas: the acquisition of a dairy herd, sheep farming and pig farming. In case of preparing a quality business plan the Commission of the Department will undoubtedly consider the project for participation in grant support for 2017. I have to note that every year the number people, willing to participate in the selection in the areas of "family farms" and beginning farmers, is growing. All kinds of state support, which fit the format of a private family farm by the law, are implemented in the region. That is unconnected support, subsidies per liter of milk and subsidizing interest rates on loans," - said the representative of the Department of agriculture of the region.

According to the head of the private family farm Maria Koval, the enterprise is not going to give up. "Our activities and products contribute to the development of the image of Yaroslavl region, supported by the leadership of the Yaroslavl region. The creation and development of the enterprise is carried out at our own expense. The opening of the production unit provides jobs for the residents of Novoselie village, who received almost the only opportunity to get a decent wage for their honest labor. Unscheduled, unjustified and illegal inspections that entail the imposition of significant fines or extortion of bribes, cast doubt on the possibility of further existence of the business in the region", - reads the statement of Ms. Koval to the regional authorities with the request to investigate the situation.

Note that at the time of publication, neither the Rosselkhoznadzor nor Rospotrebnadzor of Yaroslavl region has provided operational comments. The DairyNews is closely monitoring developments and will inform the readers about the fate of the enterprise and its appeals to the authorities.

Read full article in Russian on DairyNews.ru