The identification of animals was discussed at parliamentary hearings in the State Duma
The participants of the "parliamentary hearings" on veterinary safety held in the State Duma on March 12 noted that the epizootic situation in Russia is not very favourable now. According to the Chief of the Duma Committee on agricultural issues Vladimir Kashin, poisoning with livestock products often occurs in the country. At the same time, there are reports of outbreaks of livestock diseases from different regions. "The situation is aggravated by the lack of a national system in Russia that provides identification, registration of animals and tracing of animal products", the Deputy stated.
It is planned to create such a system in Russia by the end of 2021. The draft law prepared by the Ministry of agriculture, which is currently under consideration by the Government, suggests that cattle, horses, reindeer, sheep and goats will be marked. This will be done by visual or mixed means of identification.
"Talking about traceability, let's start with the cows", said Deputy Minister of agriculture Maxim Uvaydov. The official added that in some regions they have already begun to mark animals as an experiment. These are Bashkortostan, St. Petersburg, Saratov, Nizhny Novgorod and Rostov regions.
It is assumed that only marking of cattle will cost producers three billion rubles. But the introduction of such a system will track the entire path of meat products — from the birth of a cow or a goat to receipt of meat or sausage on the shelves. As a result, the quality of meat and milk will increase, it will be possible to form a system of vaccination of animals correctly and increase the prestige of Russian meat products on the world market. Now, according to the Ministry of agriculture, 28 percent of the total flow of falsified products in Russia accounts for low-quality meat, and 21 percent – for dairy products. This situation needs to be corrected.
The question about who will pay for the marking costs remains open. Depending on the type animals will be marked with tattoos or a microchip will be implanted under the skin. Experts note that in developed countries, not only cattle, but also cats and dogs are marked in this way.
It is assumed that the specialists of veterinary services will keep records of marked animals, and then this information will be entered into the Federal information system in the field of veterinary medicine. Control over the process of chipping and in General for veterinary safety and epizootic situation in Russia is planned to be assigned to the Rosselkhoznadzor. Now veterinary services in regions are engaged in it, but participants of "parliamentary hearings" note that they don't cope with the tasks assigned to them due to insufficient financing.
Maxim Uvaydov reminded that President Vladimir Putin instructed to centralize the supervisory powers in the field of veterinary medicine. The State Duma supports the proposal to transfer these functions to the Rosselkhoznadzor, which currently controls only the introduction of quarantine in the regions.
"Supervisory functions should be in one hand, in the Federal Center, and all other powers can be given to the regions", said the leader of the LDPR Vladimir Zhirinovsky. He said that veterinary control is extremely important for public health. "Most of the diseases transferred to man from animals. The food which is made by processing of sick animals is a direct way to diseases, — he stated. - The worst thing is that there are some diseases from which cannot be treated".
At the same time, Zhirinovsky stressed that it is necessary to be engaged in import substitution and try to prevent the Russian market from turning into a dump of "food waste" of other countries. "Bush’s legs (chicken legs)", which were imported to Russia in the 90s, according to the politician, lead to cancer and sexual dysfunction.
In 2001 they tried to deliver poisoned meat of cows with mad cow disease from Europe. Bird flu is also associated with veterinary safety. So it is better to produce quality meat from domestic cattle, Zhirinovsky said. He is sure that Russia has "brilliant opportunities" for the production of food products of the highest standard.
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