30% of dairy products in Ukraine falsified - expert

In Ukraine, 30% of dairy products are falsified, primarily butter, soft cheeses and cheese products.

This is stated in the message of the Union of Dairy Enterprises, the Ukrainian News agency reports.

"Our industry is currently hampered by a large proportion of fake dairy products and the inconsistency of the quality of raw materials. There is also a lack of traceability, which Europe requires from us. This is in population’s farms. The first is that a strategy for the development of dairy farming in the state must be approved. The second is that the state must form from population’s farms some small and medium-sized family farms and to provide them with equipment. The state has all the possibilities, both the State Consumer Service and the police, to combat the phenomenon of falsification. Falsification already reaches up to 30%," said the executive director of the Union of Dairy Enterprises of Ukraine, Arsen Didur.

According to him, this falsification enters the market in the form of finished products: packs, boxes, packages, bottles.

As a rule, the main share of fakes is butter, cheeses (where a cheese product with added fat is sold under the guise of cheese), soft cheeses (cottage cheeses) occupy a large share.

Such products are mostly sold in markets and small retail outlets.

According to Didur, instead of raising taxes, the state should pay attention to such a shadow sector.

"We asked to lift the ban on checking enterprises in terms of operating permits. To find out where and what is produced. There are about 1,500 operating permits, and we have, according to our data, about 150 working factories (not including craft productions). Someone uses these "powers" that are not produced, and it is not clear where, and this fills the markets. Secondly, it is dangerous. this leads to the closure of many enterprises that could work, but cannot withstand such distorted competition," he said.

As the Ukrainian News agency earlier reported, in 2023, compared to 2022, the export of Ukrainian dairy products decreased by 4% to 108,000 tons, and in monetary terms - by 38% to USD 253 million.

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