Russian supermarket chaos as buyers shun 'counterfeit' product

Russians do not trust a product in supermarkets and are instead buying it hand to hand, officials have acknowledged. People are wary of purchasing honey in stores due to some of it being counterfeit, and 80% of the sugary liquid that is produced in the country is still sold face to face. But Dmitry Galaganov, Chairman of the honey quality council of the Rusprodsoyuz - an association of more than 150 manufacturers and suppliers of food products in Russia - has said that the proportion of conterfeit honey for sale on shelves has dropped.

He told a press conference: "The share of counterfeit goods on the shelves of retail chains has decreased. Just recently, astonishing figures were recorded, exceeding 70% of the sample based on the results of control." On people buying honey person to person, Mr Galaganov added: "And this is the consumer's response to how much he trusts honey that is sold in an organized sales channel.

"This is a painful situation, it is not beneficial to anyone."

According to Russian state news service Interfax, beekeepers in the country collect around 65,000 to 70,000 tonnes of honey per year.

On average, one collects between two and four tonnes

Mr Galaganov also said: "Rosselkhoznadzor, its Mercury system, sees about 42,000.

"This is the commercial part.

"But a significant part is not registered, because you don't need to register in Mercury to sell from your hands."

The Chairman added that the average price of honey, whether bought from hands, from a shelf, or from an electronic shelf, fluctuates between 800 and 1,000 rubles per kilogram.

Elena Saratseva, Deputy Head of Roskachestvo - Russian Quality System - insisted that a Charter of Conscientious Participants in the Honey Market, will help consolidate the trend of the honey market becoming more trsutworthy.

She said: "The Charter is a reference to GOSTs, to laboratory studies.

"It is very important that it has a special clause that says that honey is a controlled product, that it must be registered in all systems.

"This is one of the important components that allows one to assess the authenticity of the product. The consumer has the right to know where each jar of honey came from."