Supervision of "Ashan"

On Friday, August 21, the press service of the Samara department of Rosselkhoznadzor reported on an inspection of products at the local Auchan, during which 267 kg of vegetables and fruits were found “without documents confirming their origin, variety and safety.” In accordance with the presidential decree and government resolution, suspicious peaches, grapes, apples, peppers and tomatoes were destroyed right on the territory of the supermarket.

Almost simultaneously, a message came from Omsk: Rospotrebnadzor there had already reported on the application filed against Auchan to the Arbitration Court. In Siberia, inspectors did not like the poorly printed price tag: “the labels... do not contain clear, reliable, easy-to-read information that does not mislead consumers.”

Thus, the “conflict” between the retailer and the two government supervisory services spread beyond the capital region, which was discussed at the beginning.

The Rosselkhoznadzor had complaints about the capital's Auchan supermarkets throughout the summer. At first, inspectors found expired meat on the shelves - chilled meat was shipped from the distribution center, the expiration date of which expired in 1-2 days, but after it was processed in hypermarkets, the labeling indicated expiration dates of 2-3 days, although the expiration date of the meat was after opening the vacuum packaging should not exceed 12 hours.

Then there was a report about a pizza that was made from expired raw sausage.

Finally, on August 4, Auchan customers were pleased that Rosselkhoznadzor had detected the DNA of horse, chicken and cattle in minced pork, and the DNA of pig, sheep and cattle was found in semi-finished lula kebab products made from beef and lamb. Moreover, according to the veterinary service, “89% of the products tested were falsified.”

As a result, the department demanded that Auchan stop processing and producing its own semi-finished products. The veterinary service sent a notification to the retailer to draw up a protocol on an administrative offense and further transfer the case to the court, which could prohibit the production of its own products

On Wednesday, August 19, the chief sanitary doctor of Russia and the head of Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, said that the capital department of her department has been conducting a “systematic, complete scheduled inspection of all Auchan stores in Moscow since mid-June.” The results of this global check should appear later. “It is not our rules to publish the results of an inspection before it is completed,” Popova told reporters.

to some claims of two supervisory departments Representatives of Auchan publicly responded , sent two claims to the Moscow Arbitration Court, but partially agreed with the claims of Rosselkhoznadzor, began an internal investigation, and also stopped the work of meat shops in four capital hypermarkets for a day for disinfection.

It is not surprising that in the end the impression was that the state had launched a real war against Auchan. The problem with both Rosselkhoznadzor and Rospotrebnadzor is that both departments do not have a very good reputation. They should control the quality of products, goods and services in the interests of consumers, but too often they begin to check foreign companies after the outbreak of Russian foreign policy conflicts.

Naturally, this time too, the coordinated attack of the two services on Auchan, which belongs to the French company of the same name, was perceived by many as a political action.

As always, there are several reasons.

France is one of the leaders of the European Union, which condemned Russia for annexing Crimea and imposed serious sanctions after the start of the war in eastern Ukraine. Moreover, France “distinguished itself” by refusing to supply the Russian Ministry of Defense with already paid for Mistral-class helicopter carriers, which, of course, will affect the business reputation of the defense industry of this country for a long time.

However, experts interviewed by Polit.ru doubt that Auchan’s inspections became a kind of revenge on the company for the policies of the French government. Executive Director of SmartUP CG, MBA teacher at RANEPA Mikhail Gorshikhin admitted that special attention could have been paid to foreign retail chains, but this is unlikely to be caused only by the political situation - simply “in principle, attention to business has intensified in the country.” “Probably, there is partly politics in this, but I think that without actual violations such a situation as with Auchan would not have happened,” he said.

Chairman of the Board of the International Confederation of Consumer Societies (ConfOP) Dmitry Yanin believes that Auchan's presence on the Russian market is likely much more important for the Russian authorities than for the French, so it would be stupid to attack it for political reasons - it would be simpler, for example, ban French wines and thus put pressure on winemakers.

“It is obvious that all these attempts to put pressure on one of the best companies are causing misunderstanding among an increasing number of people. Not only jamon lovers do not really understand why this is happening, but also ordinary people do not understand why the authorities do a lot of things that worsen the life of the consumer. If they tried to react to the Mistral in this way, then it would be idiocy, which is unlikely to sit in the heads of government officials,” Yanin noted.

Indeed, Auchan is one of the largest retail chains in the country. The Federal Antimonopoly Service even opposed its expansion in the municipalities of the Moscow region closest to the capital, since in them Auchan accounts for more than a quarter of all food sold in monetary terms.

Thus, a second version of the activity of state supervisory authorities emerges: strengthening control over large retail chains. If such a decision has really been made, then it is logical to start with the largest retailer.

Indeed, with the adoption of new technical regulations of the Customs Union, the rules for working with certain groups of goods change quite a lot, so that even with every desire to comply with the requirements, large chains sometimes make mistakes.

For example, the recently adopted technical regulation “On the safety of meat and meat products” changed the rules for labeling products - now the expiration date from the moment the package is opened must be separately indicated - which is why, as stated Auchan , there was confusion that led to to the appearance of pizza with expired sausage.

As a rule, when documents are adopted that significantly affect the operation of a business, a so-called transition period is introduced. In the case of the TR “On the Safety of Meat and Meat Products,” which came into force on May 1, 2014, the transition period for some articles ended on May 1, 2015, for certain standards it lasts until the end of 2015.

The fact that even in such a large chain as Auchan, which pays quite a lot of attention to product quality control, not all formalities were observed may indicate not that the French retailer is carrying out subversive work, but that the new standards were not implemented. worked out quite well with the business, the transition period turned out to be too short, etc.

Now these miscalculations of the leadership of the Customs Union are being used by Russian supervisory agencies, not least for the purpose of redistributing spheres of influence.

For a long time, the protection of consumer rights within the country was carried out exclusively by Rospotrebnadzor - its specialists banned Georgian wines and mineral waters, controlled small trade and large retailers. Rosselkhokhnadzor's area of ​​responsibility was control over agricultural producers, as well as food importers to Russia.

“Due to sanctions bans, Rosselkhoznadzor has lost a significant area of ​​its work. Previously, he was quite famous for traveling to those countries that wanted to sell meat, milk, and agricultural products to Russia. Now all this is on our sanctions list. I don’t really want to go to India and China: this is not Australia, not New Zealand, not Canada. Therefore, they are looking for new powers for themselves - they are trying to bite off the control zone from Rospotrebnadzor,” Dmitry Yanin explained to Polit.ru.

At the same time, sometimes claims, although legally justified by the same Rosselkhoznadzor, are in reality too insignificant. This is evidenced by the fact that a total of about 250 kg of meat were withdrawn from sale - an extremely insignificant amount even for the daily turnover of Auchan. Also somewhat strange are the claims regarding the composition of meat products: the press was informed that horse DNA was found in minced pork, but they did not report the proportion of foreign inclusions.

Deputy Director for Research at VNIIMP named after V.M. Gorbatova, Doctor of Technical Sciences, Professor Anastasia Semenova explained to Polit.ru that DNA detection methods are characterized by high sensitivity. “The limits of DNA detection are such that if a piece of beef and a piece of pork were on the same table, even for a short time, then the DNA of these types of meat can be detected in both pieces. Therefore, in the practice of applying these methods, it is necessary to take into account not only the results of qualitative, but also quantitative analyses,” she said. The problem with using DNA detection methods in Russia is that acceptable levels of DNA content have not been established, which are impurities that cannot be eliminated under production conditions.

For genetically modified products, such content levels are set, and quite high, 0.9%. If the GMO content is less than 0.9%, then information about the presence of GMOs is not included in the consumer information. No legal or regulatory requirements have yet been developed for foreign DNA.

Naturally, the content of several molecules of pork meat in minced chicken does not in any way affect the consumer qualities of the meat - unless the buyer is a Muslim or a Jew, for them the ban on consuming pork in any quantity is of a religious nature.

Naturally, even if the impurities turned out to be microscopic, the responsibility, primarily reputational, lies precisely with the trading network, although the detection of foreign DNA only allows us to conclude that somewhere in the chain “from field to counter” there could have been an “intersection” of products, noted Semenova. “There are already enterprises that, having encountered problems with detecting foreign DNA in their products, have included DNA testing in their production control program,” the expert noted.

At the same time, Anastasia Semenova drew attention to the fact that often it is not the manufacturers and retailers who are to blame for spoiled meat reaching the table, but the consumers themselves - buyers do not pay due attention to compliance with storage conditions; when buying frozen or chilled products in stores, they do not pack them in cooler bags, not always When returning home, purchases are immediately put into refrigerators, and the refrigerators themselves often cannot provide proper storage conditions.

In order to improve the quality of goods on the shelves, Semenova proposes, in principle, to prohibit retail chains from producing their own products. “As a specialist in the meat industry and as a consumer, I believe that retail chains should only offer products that are produced and packaged by the manufacturer. Today, meat processing enterprises can satisfy the needs of trade in any packaging and packaging. Such products will reach the consumer in the most hygienic condition - without unwanted intermediate contacts in the environment, with the hands of the person carrying out pre-sale preparation, the surface of tables and packaging equipment in retail premises, etc. The risks of changes in consumer properties as a result of changes in temperature and humidity during sales of products,” she told Polit.ru.

Without a doubt, the Russian food industry has completely restructured over the past quarter century and has become a modern branch of the national economy, which is capable of producing both vacuum-packed minced meat and sliced ​​sausage. But if you introduce an innovation the way Rosselkhoznadzor does - with the help of sudden inspections and bans through the courts - the result will be an increase in prices. Just as Russian agriculture did not have time to prepare for the counter-sanctions of the Russian government, food industry enterprises will not be able to produce high-quality products in the required volumes within a month - which means that in addition to rising prices, supply disruptions may also occur.

Meanwhile, Mikhail Gorshikhin from SmartUP CG notes that due to the crisis, buyers are becoming more and more rational: people have become more discerning and are monitoring prices more closely. This means that more attention is paid not only to the choice of a quality product, but also to the choice of the store that sells this product. During a crisis, “as a rule, those who do not survive are those who had a strange development before the crisis: incorrect marketing, took a lot of credit, tried to squeeze out high margins on products that have a lower price,” explains Gorshikhin. “They may have existed when the consumer was more emotional and had fewer criteria for choice, but now this model does not work because its shortcomings may not be noticeable until the peak of an emerging market. But now everything has changed, and it simply cannot withstand the closer attention of buyers,” he concludes.

In other words, Rosselkhoznadzor, having decided to take on Russian retail with a tight fist, did it at the very wrong time, right now consumers will place increased demands on it, which means shopping centers, supermarkets and just stores will be obliged to monitor their reputation or lose the market.

Remembering the politicization of both Rosselkhoznadzor and Roszdravnadzor, one can doubt that government bodies can become better controllers than ordinary buyers.