Under the microscope of Roskachestvo: what have baby formula been hurt for?
Baby food as a category of food industry can be called a commodity of necessity for the consumer. Along with puree, cereals, baby juices and dairy products, the production is represented by baby formula, which is the leading segment of the market. In real terms, the leading segments are purees (27.1%) and baby formula - 20%, children's fermented dairy products and fruit juices ranked third with shares of 17.2% and 16.2%. In fact, baby formula and fermented dairy products for children act as a specialized clinical nutrition, which is most in demand on the market.
As reported in the study of the market of baby food and powdered baby formula of Russia by Marketing Agency DISCOVERY Research Group, the market volume of baby food in Russia in 2016 amounted to 252.20 billion rubles, which is equivalent to 595.28 thousand tons. The market volume of powdered baby formula in Russia in 2016 amounted to 58800.1 million rubles or 50855.6 tons. The main suppliers of baby formula to Russia are Danone and Nestle.
According to analysts of the Agency, the volume of production of powdered baby formula in Russia in 2016 amounted to 18417.7 tons. At the same time, the main volume of production of powdered baby formula falls on Moscow region – in 2016 there was produced 17496.8 tons of products. NESTOGEN became the leading brand for the supply of powdered baby formula to Russia at the end of 2016. The volume of imports under this brand amounted to 13 164.7 million rubles, which is equivalent to 10 481.8 tons.
A major exporter of food for pregnant women is domestic manufacturer, ZAO INFAPRIM.
NUTRILAC, a product of NUTRICIA, with an export volume of 1453.1 million rubles or 1115.0 tons, took the key positions in terms of export volume of powdered baby formula from Russia in 2016.
According to the consulting group Success Brand Management, the largest component of the baby food market in monetary terms is breast milk substitutes. Despite the fact that the position of the product in real terms is not so strong, breast milk substitutes show strong growth. At the same time, the increase in the volume of the country's market is provided by the import of baby formula from abroad.
The domestic market of baby food has a huge potential that needs to be developed, believe the experts of the industry. Head of the Department of the Research Institute of Baby food – a branch of the Federal state budgetary institution of science "Federal research center of food and biotechnology" Elena Simonenko describes the range of domestic baby food based on various raw materials as insufficient with the enormous market capacity.
– In terms of milk nutrition for young children, the market is dominated by products of foreign origin. There is a wish that the domestic production also developed. It is necessary to work on import substitution and develop domestic production of breast milk substitutes, – said Simonenko.
Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSC "Infaprim" Alexey Lysyakov said that the position of domestic producers of breast milk substitutes on the market is extremely weak. According to him, only 7% of breast milk substitutes in Russia are of domestic production.
– The capacity of the Russian market of breast milk substitutes is 40 thousand tons per year. We cannot be called the largest manufacturer of food for children from birth. "Infaprim" is rather the last surviving manufacturer of baby formula of a full cycle in Russia. As a company we are totally not proud of this, – said Lysyakov.
According to him, this situation is the result of unequal market conditions for foreign and domestic producers in the market of breast milk substitutes. In other words, the lobbying of multinational companies is destroying the domestic baby food industry. It is possible to speak about it and argue for long, however it is impossible not to agree that by one criterion producers of food are always equal. And this criterion is a security issue.
Recently, “Izvestia” reported that at the end of 2018, Roskachestvo checked 12 manufacturers of baby formula. These included samples of both domestic and foreign production. The study found that the composition of the product does not match the label.
-Actual concentrations of trace elements and vitamins may vary, – told Deputy Director of Roskachestvo Elena Saratseva to "Izvestia". – Baby formula, where a higher content of calcium or vitamin C is indicated, may not be as such.
I must say that Roskachestvo as an organization was created in order to stimulate domestic producers to produce high quality products corresponding to the level of the best world analogues, competitive for promotion on the domestic and foreign markets. With the establishment of “Roskachestvo” it was supposed to form a system of voluntary confirmation of conformity of products.
OPINIONS OF PRODUCERS
The press services of Danone and Nestle, the largest producers of baby formula in the Russian market, did not comment on the situation as a result of the Roskachestvo audit and the subsequent development of standards.
Alexey Lysyakov confirmed that the products of "Infaprim" were among samples taken to check by Roskachestvo.
– Roskachestvo carried out a study showing that the products of "Infaprim" are no worse and in some aspects even better than the ones of Nestle or Nutricia. All kinds of baby formula that have been tested exceed the available standards. I must say that I have great respect for our colleagues- competitors and I cannot say that any of them neglect security issues. We all "fit" in State standard (GOST) - commented Alexey Lysyakov.
Chairman of the Board of Directors of JSC "Infaprim" said that Roskachestvo has not recorded any excess of bacteria. At the same time, it was indeed found that all companies have the same type of mismatch in labeling. There were slightly more vitamins and minerals in the composition than indicated.
– Baby formula is diluted with boiled water, and it already has minerals. That is, we should theoretically calculate their number, which varies depending on the region. The excess of minerals is a fine-tuning, that do not lead to anything dangerous. This is no tragedy or danger to the health of the child, – said Lysyakov.
Elena Simonenko, head of the department of the Research Institute of baby food, in an interview with The DairyNews noted that the quality of baby food is regulated by regulations, the requirements of which are much higher than the quality of products for adult food. At the same time, measures are required to bring by-laws and regulations into compliance with the current legislation, which include state standards as a tool for regulating the quality and safety of food. This primarily concerns the establishment of terms and definitions, harmonization of state standards for control methods with international standards and EU Directives, development of standards for test methods.
– There is a problem of confirmation in full compliance of baby food with the established quality requirements due to the lack of standardized objective and reliable methods of control. This applies to the control of permissible levels of minerals and vitamins. Research institutes and manufacturers of baby food face, in particular, the problem of lack of control standards for some indicators of the quality and safety of finished baby food, – said the Head of the Department of the Research Institute of baby food.
Now State standard is used for baby formula, which imposes general requirements for products. In particular, which specific ingredients it has to be made of. The standard also includes laboratory control of the presence of proteins, fats, carbohydrates, toxic substances and other parameters.
According to the "Izvestia", Roskachestvo has already prepared a new State standard for baby formula, which sets higher and more detailed requirements for products so that baby formula by the composition were close to breast milk. We will remind that Roskachestvo has long been developing its own leading standards – according to the press service of the authority, by 2020 there will have been developed more than 150 State standards.
Meanwhile, the Ministry of industry and trade did not confirm the information about the document.
– Within the framework of the Technical Committee for standardization "Russian quality system" (TC 702) in 2018, the standard establishing requirements for powdered baby formula, and (or) containing methods for research of powdered baby formula, was not developed, – the Ministry said.
In addition, "the national standardization program for 2019, approved by the order of Rosstandart of February 5, 2019 № 166, the development of this standard within the TC 702 is not provided", said in the press service of the Ministry of industry and trade. It is also noted that the proposals from the Technical Committee on the inclusion of the topic on the development of this standard in the standardization program have not yet been received by Rosstandart.
As the Head of the department of the Research Institute of baby food Elena Simonenko reported to The DairyNews, the work on improving the validation rules is being carried out – the Research Institute of baby food participated in the drafting of a Standard of organization by Roskachestvo for the initial adapted baby formula.
– This project of the Standard of organization has been approved for a long time among industry organizations, institutions and producers of breast milk substitutes. Maybe the Standard of organization will later be used in the development of State standard (GOST), which Roskachestvo reported about, but we have no information on this subject, concluded Elena Simonenko.
According to the representative of the Association "Rusprodsoyuz" Dmitry Leonov, the emergence of a new standard will have a positive impact on improving the quality of products for baby food.
– The quality of Russian baby formula is conditioned by the lack of good domestic raw materials necessary for the production of baby food, strong market consolidation and other problems. To solve the problems, we need to build our own infrastructure of domestic production of breast milk substitutes of full-cycle, which are not yet available in the country, – Leonov concluded.
At the time of publication of the material, Roskachestvo did not comment on the situation: it is still unknown by what parameters violations were identified and what the high standard will be.
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