Nougat with fruit, butter with Provencal herbs: what's new from Belarusian food industry companies? 

News Topics, November 12, Minsk . Tatyana Shedko, First Deputy Chairperson of Belgospischeprom, told a BELTA correspondent about the new sweets developed by Belarusian food industry companies on the sidelines of the national scientific and practical conference "Quality 2025."

"We strive to release new products in line with the trend toward healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle . Therefore, our new products include healthy sweets. For example, coconut oil-based confectionery, a line of nougat products with berry and fruit fillings. It's worth noting that our confectionery products do not contain additional flavors or artificial ingredients. We also have a line of cookies and wafers with a high milk powder content, which provides calcium and strong bones and teeth for children. We also try to surprise with products for cooking in the kitchen, for example, rapeseed oil with Provencal herbs. We also produce a line of mayonnaises for school meals," said Tatyana Shedko.
 
She emphasized that for consumers in many countries, Belarusian food products symbolize high quality, safety, naturalness, and nutritional value. "Quality is the most important benchmark for businesses and the food industry as a whole; it provides competitive advantages and helps them succeed . Today, we reviewed the results of the industry program "Quality 2021-2025." This is a successful, effective quality management model for our organizations. In accordance with the program, measures are being implemented in the areas of technical regulation, standardization, metrology, accreditation, management effectiveness, and business development. High standards for the quality and safety of national food products are primarily achieved through a unified approach to technical regulation, as well as the implementation of effective, proactive standards. By making an informed choice of a particular food product, the buyer has reliable information about its composition and purchases products of guaranteed quality," noted the First Deputy Chairperson of Belgospischeprom.

The concern's enterprises address these and many other challenges, including enhancing product competitiveness, implementing innovative approaches, removing various trade barriers, and promoting products externally. "The concern's organizations systematically conduct a comparative analysis of current food quality and safety requirements against international standards, Eurasian regulations, and directives. We participate in the development of annual state standardization plans to ensure the timely implementation of changes to standards, as well as the development of new standards, if necessary, based on high scientific and technical expertise and best practices. Our organizations regularly work on technical committees—both national and international," noted Tatyana Shedko.

Speaking about the concern's collaboration with Gosstandart, she cited the international implementation of changes to technical regulations for oil and fat products as one of its most recent significant achievements. "An additional indicator has been introduced for the permissible level of glycidyl esters of fatty acids in vegetable oils and products containing them. We have also developed and completed the procedure for domestic approval of amendments to the technical regulations on the safety of alcoholic beverages. We have amended the technical regulations on food safety to establish uniform approaches and requirements for the physicochemical composition of chocolate, chocolate products, and cocoa products. This has enabled us to ensure that the EAEU consumer market is supplied with high-quality confectionery products with reliable information about the composition of their ingredients," said the First Deputy Chairperson of Belgospischeprom.

"The concern's enterprises maintain a firm position—it is necessary not to reduce the achieved level of food product quality. Requirements for juice, confectionery, and oil and fat products, including those for baby food, have been tightened. We plan to update six state standards for juices, fruit drinks, nectars, and juice drinks for infants, preschoolers, and schoolchildren. We also plan to update three interstate standards for cocoa beans and their evaluation methods in the near future," Tatyana Shedko shared her plans.

"In general, our enterprises manufacture products in accordance with interstate and state standards. Work is underway.""The harmonization of national standards and the transition to the use of interstate standards is a labor-intensive and complex task. Standards must be at a high scientific and technical level, consistent with modern approaches to quality, modern technologies, and best practices. At the same time, there must be some interest from EAEU member states—from manufacturers, scientific organizations, buyers, and government agencies. Nevertheless, we are steadily moving toward the use of uniform technical requirements based on international best practices and an evidence-based scientific base, and toward the application of interstate standards," concluded the First Deputy Chairperson of Belgospischeprom. Leading experts, enterprise managers, scientists

, and specialists in standardization and quality management participated in the conference . They discussed current challenges, shared experiences in implementing innovative solutions, and identified promising areas for the development of a national quality infrastructure. The plenary session of the conference was devoted to the development of a quality infrastructure and a technical regulation system as a reliable foundation for the sustainable development of the national economy. The topic of the breakout session was "Technological Leaders." The conference , titled "Operational Goals and Flexible Plans," had a purely practical focus. Representatives of Belarusian industry shared their successful experiences in quality management. The conference was one of the key events during Quality Week, which was held in Belarus from November 10th to 16th and coincided with World Quality Day, celebrated this year on November 13th. The week is intended to demonstrate how traditions, combined with hard work and advanced technology, create a solid foundation for Belarusian quality.