One sample passed the test. The quality of beef stew was checked in Smolensk

What are we being fed? What kind of stew do they sell in stores? The Smolensk society for the protection of consumer rights "Themis" held a regular review of food quality. This time the experts were evaluating canned meats of the “stewed beef” category. The review was held as part of the implementation of the presidential grant "Consumer Control".

The previous review of beef stew was held a year ago. Then the expert commission rejected all seven submitted samples. For the current assessment, a test purchase of five types of “stewed beef” of the 1st and highest grade was made, indicating GOST. One, by the way, Vyazma production. Once there was a phrase "non-compliance with standards is punishable by law." Now, along with GOST (state standard), there are more reduced specifications (technical conditions).

Lyudmila Vasilyeva, HEAD of SmolenskTest LLC:

“GOST - to some extent, today it has become a little lure, a little attraction for manufacturers, unfortunately. I would like, of course, that GOST products are both properly checked and controlled properly, and, of course, these products comply with GOST.”

The low, sometimes, quality of food products today is due to the fact that some enterprises are voluntarily certified, while others, which the law allows, will evade state certification, but only declare their products on their own, arbitrarily. 

Dina Bogomolova, Chairman of the Expert Commission:

“Especially the last sample was of such a kind that we didn’t even try it: a foreign smell, a taste that does not correspond to this product.”

This is a stew produced in Staraya Russa, Novgorod region. Criteria for evaluating a MEAT product: taste, smell, appearance, consistency of meat and broth, impurities, protein and fat content, packaging, labeling. And only one sample out of five, produced in Borovoe, Voronezh region, was recognized as having passed the test.

Svetlana Kryuchkova, Chairman of the Consumer Protection Society "Themis":

“For the rest of the samples, we will transfer all the information to the regulatory organizations: Rospotrebnadzor, the Prosecutor’s Office and the COURT. And according to the results of last year, court cases are still ongoing. But the Prosecutor’s Office and Rospotrebnadzor check them in their places.”

According to safety indicators, according to sanitary rules, rejected samples would probably have the right to be sold, but not under the brand name “stewed beef”, and even the first and highest grade, and even with a false reference to GOST. Such products should be given other names and labels so as not to be accused of deceiving consumers and fraud.