What's Happening To Dairy Products In Belarus?

The sellers are sounding the alarm.

The manager of a large chain store in Slutsk told Kur'yer that ice cream is gradually disappearing from the shelves, while there are almost no new supplies. According to her, this is true for many large stores and producers. The Slutsk resident attributes it to the new marking on all ice-cream packages that has to be put on them starting July 8. What is going on?

Since July 8, Belarus introduces mandatory labeling of cheese and ice cream, which looks like an excise tax label. It has numbers on it, by which you can trace the origin of the goods. The remains of the products released before that date are not labeled.

As Maksim Malinouski, Deputy Director General for Production of Slutsk Cheese Plant, told us, the plant has prepared to the deficit - in July the plant produced 200 tons of ice cream. There is enough of it in the warehouses to supply this product to the consumers. It can still be sold without labeling.

The Deputy Director General of the plant added that there are more questions to the trade itself, why there is a shortage of ice cream.

Maksim Malinouski explained that labeling is not a quick process. Now new equipment is being purchased through the tender. The enterprise is getting ready to ensure the production of goods according to new requirements.

Kur'yer has found that on the website of public procurement the Slutsk Cheese Plant has announced a tender for the purchase of four hardware-software product labeling complexes. Their total cost is 1 000 000 rubles.

The complexes will be installed at the plants in Slutsk, Salihorsk, Staryja Darohi and Kletsk.

What has changed and why

Previously, the goods had their own labeling: "tea", "beer", "coffee", etc. And now there will be one kind - a unified control label. Following ice cream and cheese, the rest of the dairy products will be marked as well (from September 1 - dairy products with a shelf life of over 40 days, and from December 1 - dairy products with a shelf life of up to 40 days). A special two-dimensional barcode with or without a protected material carrier contains information about the product and manufacturer.

"Russia was the initiator of mandatory labeling of dairy products, demanding its introduction for exporting countries. This means that the dairy products, which will be exported this summer, are to be labeled. In the future, thanks to this system, the path of each product from production and warehouse to its purchase at the store cash register can be traced online," said Viachaslau Tanin, deputy director for commercial issues of JSC Holographic Industry.

Why do we need labeling?

Special labeling is a kind of passport of the goods, where you can find information about the manufacturer and supplier. The state enterprise "Belblankavyd Publishing House", which sells control labels, has released a special application "Electronic Label". It can be used to check the authenticity of origin of clothing and footwear, jewelry, tires, perfumes and cameras; soon dairy products will be added to them.

The main purpose of the labeling is to combat counterfeit goods, and the control label also guarantees that all taxes and fees for the goods have been paid.