How would you rate the current state of quality control of dairy products in Ukraine?

When the ruling circles are presenting the state control as something deiberately criminal and forbid it by moratorium, it is quite difficult to evaluate the control effectiveness and the real capacities of its effectuation.

Let us start from the beginning. There is a very interesting document, which can be found on the website of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. The Committee on Agrarian Policy and Land Relations has prepared its resolution and appeal to the President of Ukraine “On the epizootic situation of African swine fever, ways to prevent and overcome.” In this document, in its narrative and resolutionchapters there are some aspects of the efficiency and capacity of quality control of not only dairy but any food produced in Ukraine.

As for the real capacities of control, I can say that the control has three components. It has always been so, and such procedure has always been used to check the effectiveness of control. First, there must be legal grounds for the competent authority’scontrol activities, secondly, there must be a tool – the well-staffed local authorities, specially trained staff, extensive, transparent and understandable pool of specialists who can exercise control at different levels of production and at various territorial levels – from central to district and even to small regions, as it is stipulated in the results of evaluation of veterinary services PVS that Ukraine passed in 2009.

Today, in terms of new legislation we only havethe Law “On general principles and requirements for safety and quality of food”.The name of the Law is not quite clear not only to us, but also to our trading partners, but thanks God, we have adopted this Law. By now, only 35% of the work aimed at formation of the legislation regulating the state control system has been done. The second step is adoption of the Law “On the State Control”, which we used to call 0906, and which we successfully failed to adopt at the last Parliament session. This law is very important, and despite the fact that there has always been some insinuations around it, we can say one thing: today, without this Law, we cannot accept a number of other necessary laws – “On feed hygiene”, “On animal health and welfare “,”On veterinary medicine “. Without adopting this Law we cannot adopt the law on the system of state control on the state border and transport in accordance with modern requirements of the European Union. And whatever Ms. Kuzhel and Ms Tymoshenkowould say, this Law is built on the principles of the European legislation and meets its requirements. This I can state as an expert. I am also confident that adopting of this law is now almost the only chance of the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection (Service) to align the situation in favor of consumers. Otherwise, all the previous actions that were allegedly aimed at protecting businesses seem uncontrollable and look as deliberate internal biological terrorism. The spread of ASF is the proof of this. The echoes of the ban for export of meal, corn and significant range of products of animal origin will soon make think so not just me.

The real reason for this is that reforming of the competent authority was made blindly and presumptuously, without adequate financial and professional support from the government. And an array of tasks of the newly formed body fits a detached ministry, isn’t it? Why the Cabinet refused to provide directs controlwhich could have save the Service and save the country from total loss of well-being?

Now about the real capacities of the state control. It is worth mentioning the effectiveness of the conglomerate created by the previous government not without participation of the representatives of the present one. In fact, it was a merger of the SPS (sanitary and phytosanitary measures) and TBT (Technical Barriers to Trade). The same mistake has been made  by the Dutch government, but tlater they corrected this mistake. Now their service is divided into two components and it is operating successfully. They recognized the disastrous inefficiency of the conglomerate of unconnected components. I think that Ukraine will have to pass the same way. I think that just this summer we might see the consequences, and that’s when we will have to start rebuilding the system of vertical control with proper funding. Seems, that this is clear to all now. This is the way the EU, Russia and the United States are going. “The only competent authority” does not mean that we should merge into one bowl all the dishes from the table. We must separate the issues of food safety and consumer protection. When mixed, the sense of both are lost. The appearance of African swine fever and highly pathogenic avian influenza proves that the problem can actually be very serious.

As for the staff, I can say that during the three years of reform, most highly skilled specialists left the Service, they are now working in business and I’m happy for them. Business in this case also won getting  qualified personnel. Most people of the Service top management also left their positions and they are now working for international organizations.

Summing up this question, I can say that today we have a real capacity to control, but we do not have the tools. Our public hospitals are funded from local budgets and very, very doubtfully controlled by our regional bodies. This is a huge problem that entails a loop of other problems we now have. The person who made this decision – to transfer the funding without providing any damper, legislative acts which would regulate these issues, this person is a criminal and must answer for it by law. This was made despite the fact that both international and domestic expert community had warned in advance about the consequences.

Apart form that, now we have an ineffective, weak, badly formed organizational structure to execute control, this structure requires a significant improvement. So, the real capacities of the state control are significantly reduced. The system is at the stage when it needs reassessment by the competent authorities of trading partners in WTO. We can see the reaction of Qatar, which introduces additional permits for the import of animal products from Ukraine. Negotiations were held with the European Union, and therer were doubts expressed regarding the effectiveness of the Service which did not manage to cope with primary outbreaks of African swine fever. By the way, I would like to emphasize that this is not the fault of the Service itself and the people who work there. We have to blame the previous government, perhaps partly the President, who did not pay prompt attention to it. Today the situation is not catastrophic, we can still correct it. It is quite easy and simple, but it should be clearly understood that any crisis requires large investments. Now we can get out of it more or less painlessly. But we have to act quickly and forthright!

How capable is the State Service of Ukraine on Food Safety and Consumer Protection to reliably monitor compliance of our dairies to ensure safety of dairy products?

Firstly, the new Food Law is built on a different principle than the previous one in terms of control of safety and quality of food. The responsibilities between state control and producer are reallocated. Currently the responsibility for the quality and safety of products lies with the manufacturer. But we have no understanding of how monitoring should be carried out. Both market operators and controllers are not trained for that properly. Of course, the system had to be shifted towards the so-called institutional control, but this does not mean a state agency control. This means that contol should be executed by the industry institution that deals with production of food as partial assistance to state control.

Today, the emphasis is shifted toward production control, that is, self-control, based on the principles of HAACP. This is an absolutely valid and effective system, which is used almost everywhere, and it should have been supplemented with sanctions for non-compliance with legislation regarding operation of production control, and this has been done. But as the system of the state control has not received all the required attributes and powers because not all the laws (which I have mentioned) were adopted, the system is now suspended. We lost the institute of official doctors, who controlled all the issues locally. Of course, this scheme was quite corrupt and inconvenient for the market operators, but still it represented some state control.

Not without previous government participation, the moratorium on the control in the production and circulation of food was introduced, and this was a very serious impetus to loss of the state control. This action worked against the people, and I think that is how it will beevaluated and taken into account by  officials. After all, the state has lost one of the best instruments of state control, which was recognized by OIE. Today we have a serious problem and we must continue reforming to bring funding and service procedures and regulations to appropriate levels.

To sum up: despite the fact that we have no adequate legislative framework for full control, the ability to control DPSS is rather unreliable. Of course, people are doing their best, but they do not have sufficient expertise, authority and capacity.

How is safety of dairy products sold through farmers’ retail outlets controlled?

I can say that now actually there is no control guaranteed for such products. The responsibility lies entirely on manufacturers.

In developed countries any control has two components: the production control and the state control supplemented with proof by laboratory controls. Ask at any farmer’s store what accredited laboratories they use for control and how often they examine their products, and you will understand how farmers provide this control.

I’m not saying that their products are bad. The majority of Ukrainians is responsible and applies all best practices needed to ensure safety. But this is not enough to guarantee food safety. Food safety should be guaranteed by the state.

Today we have a legal framework, but have no tools to perform tasks facing the government in this regard.

So, speaking about food quality and safety, they depend on several factors: first, we need to have a proper legislation. Now the main obstacle to adoption of the European legislation is the State Regulatory Service. It may sound strange, but for more than two years we have not been able to agree the instructions on figfhting highly contagious diseases. The Committee on Agrarian Policy and Land Relations even took the decision to force the Regulatory Service to agree these documents, but all “cooperation” looks more like a tug of war, where the parties are, on the one hand, people’s health, and on the other – someone’s political whims.

So now people themselves have to decide which products to buy and whether they are safe.

There is a widely used practice of internal control called “traditional shop”. We see the use of this marketing tool by several retailers that sell products of small farms. They use their internal control system. I would like to draw your attention to the fact that if this control is done professionally and correctly, it has the right to life and it will get future development. I hope that when we do all that the way it is done in developed countries, it would be done under the law but not only in good faith by responsible companies: all procedures will be controlled by the state and it will be completely legal.

I would also like to note that today our deputies have very low awareness and lack of professional education in the field of food safety and biosecurity, and this leads to a catastrophic situation in making certain legislative acts. They cannot make their views on specific issues based on their own knowledge, so they appeal to a large number of experts who earn money by simply limiting deputies’ contacts, not allowing them to listen to other experts.

I would appeal to leaders of all ranks: if you want to make up your minds on certain issues, listen at least to four or five experts and then take a decision. The state has given you the right to make decisions, listening to all parties, not one. Due to the unilateral advising we now often get distorted laws that do not allow even efficiently use the tools of state control that already exist.

I would also like to note something concerning laboratories. Laboratories should be accredited for ISO 17125. I appeal to those producers and processors who now intend to build a large number of their own laboratories. When you have it done, remember: in case you have the conflict of interest you will have no right to test your products in your own laboratories, but you can provide this service to other farms and businesses, which, as is proved by the state, you have no conflict of interest with.

Please take care and do not lose faith in common sense and the rule of law.