Permission to import whey for baby food from sanctioned countries will be extended – Ministry of Economic Development

The decision to extend the permit for a year on November 2 was made by the subcommittee on customs tariff and non-tariff regulation and protective measures in foreign trade, reads the explanatory note to the document.

It is about demineralized milk whey powder with a demineralization level of 90% (from the EAEU HS code 0404), which is used for the production of infant formula powder (breast milk substitutes), as well as for industrial testing and commissioning of equipment for the production of these products, the countries of origin of which are the USA, the EU, Canada, Australia, Norway, Ukraine, Albania, Montenegro, Iceland, Liechtenstein and the United Kingdom.

In 2021, the government allowed 2,000 tons of this whey to be imported from March 9 to December 31.

In Russia, such whey is produced by Agrocomplex named after N.I. Tkachev in the amount of 2,400 tons per year, but this is not enough, according to the Russian Ministry of Agriculture. In addition, the bulk of the whey produced in Russia has a demineralization level of 50-70%. It is used in the food industry, but does not meet the regulatory requirements for use in the production of baby food products, ‘since the total content of minerals and indicators for each individual mineral element (sodium, potassium, calcium and others) is significantly exceeded in the finished products compared to the values normalized in the technical regulations of the Eurasian Economic Union.’

Producers of whey with a demineralization level of 90% are mainly cheese-producing countries: France, Finland, the Netherlands, Ireland, Argentina, Belarus and New Zealand.