The main sales channel for falsified dairy products is public procurement - Igor Eliseenko

The expert noted that falsified dairy products are less and less common on store shelves – manufacturers protect their reputation. Plus high control of goods in retail chains.

‘But there are sales channels through which it is much easier to "push" falsified products – they are HoReCa and public procurement,’ said Igor Eliseenko. ‘A huge amount of falsified dairy products through the tender system gets into the army and the institutions of the Federal Penitentiary Service. It is much more difficult to track and check the quality of products there: there are various corruption schemes and a lot of interested participants. In addition, since the lowest price of milk is crucial, not its quality, the producers themselves are not interested in providing an "honest" product.

According to the expert, organizations that work with falsified products professionally, having established its sale through the public procurement system, have learned to bypass “Mercury” long ago and the introduction of labeling will certainly not be a hindrance for them.

‘Well, who will go to prisons to scan QR codes?.. Unfortunately, our state-owned industries are increasingly classified, and it is very difficult to check something there. And for "muddy" schemes, this is very fertile ground,’ said Igor Eliseenko. ‘Moreover, I think that the situation with falsified dairy products supplied to the Armed Forces and correctional institutions will only get worse. This sales channel can completely become the "patrimony" of falsifiers. We already see how the volume of palm oil purchased by enterprises is growing, we know the producers who are engaged in falsification – and at the same time, we have no power to change the situation.