The Ministry of agriculture of Russia discussed a proposal to exclude vegetable fats from the dairy legislation
Russian dairy producers proposed to exclude all products produced with the replacement of milk fat with vegetable fat from the objects of the milk regulation TR CU 033/2013. Accordingly, it was proposed to completely prohibit the use of any dairy terms for these products and to introduce uniform labeling requirements for them. This will solve the issue of the presence of products with the same composition on the shelf, but different names (for example, "cheese substitute" and "milk-containing product with a substitute for milk fat produced by cheese technology" — this is, in fact, the same product). Products with vegetable fat, regardless of its quantity, are proposed to be combined into one group - the object of TR CU 021/2011 and set safety and identification requirements for them, HS codes, lists of related standards.
Such initiatives are based on international regulation of the dairy industry, namely, they comply with the standards of the Alimentarius Code, which prohibits such products from being classified as dairy products. There aren’t any "milk-containing" products anywhere in the world — all these are food products, and they are called ordinary technical terms (paste, cream, mousse, cocktails, and so forth) on the territory of the EAEU such products are called "milk-containing" products.
The experts of TC 470 are confident that the adoption of these initiatives will "clean" dairy products from palm oil, a substitute for milk fat, and will stimulate the development of milk production and natural dairy products.
The initiative of the Russian dairy expert community was supported by representatives of the Republic of Armenia. Other participants of the meeting, including Belarus, Kazakhstan, as well as representatives of the unions of the fat industry and Russian authorities - the Ministry of economic development of the Russian Federation, the Rospotrebnadzor, the Rosselkhoznadzor - considered such initiatives unnecessary and unreasonable. The main arguments of our opponents were economic difficulties, since the niche of milk-containing products with vegetable fat is quite large in the EAEU countries, enterprises that produce these products will suffer large losses, etc.
The position of TC 470 and the Dairy Union of Russia — it is necessary to combine all products with replacement of milk fat in one group, set uniform labeling requirements for them, and exclude them from the objects of the dairy regulations of TR CU 033/2013. We believe that these initiatives will reduce the use of vegetable fats in the dairy industry, make it economically profitable to produce raw milk and natural dairy products, and exclude the presence of products of the same composition with different names on the market. The Union and TC 470 intend to continue their initiatives at the site of the Ministry of agriculture of the Russian Federation and the EAEU.
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