"We have reached a new level of control over food products"
A public portal will appear in Russia, where you can check any company — clinics, cafes, restaurants. This was stated by the head of Rospotrebnadzor, Anna Popova, in an interview with Izvestia at the Eastern Economic Forum. The Federal Service also changed the regulations for checking stores, introducing random checks by product type. The new system has proven its effectiveness, and about 600 warnings have already been issued. See our article about how the activities of catering outlets and grocery stores are now monitored, what is happening with the incidence of measles and why you should not wait for the introduction of meningococcal vaccination into the national vaccination calendar.
"The situation at the airports was very difficult"
— This summer, there were several collapses at airports — people could not take off, planes were delayed or did not take off at all. How many such complaints have been received by Rospotrebnadzor?
— The number of complaints that we have received does not exceed the average number for previous years during the summer period. Yes, the situation was very difficult. And I want to draw your attention to the fact that the airport services worked very well — they accommodated people and had water.
And my colleagues tried very hard: regardless of the time of day, they helped citizens right at the airport to write complaints and ensure their rights on the spot. That's why there weren't many complaints.
I would like to remind you that in this case, the consumer has the right to apply for compensation within six months after the incident. And we actively support those who decide to do it later. I think it's very right to defend your rights as a consumer in any situation.
— It is already possible to sum up the results of the summer bathing season. How do you rate the preparation of beaches and which of the regions failed it?
— No one has failed this year's season. The beaches are getting better from year to year. The disinfection element introduced by us during the covid period on beaches is still working today. As soon as this is not done, we immediately see it, including in terms of morbidity rates.
Now the tourist activity zones, followed by our attention zones, are changing. If earlier it was mainly the Black Sea coast, now it is both the Volga and the Far East. The current summer season has been stable, calm, without any special complications. The numbers are no worse than in previous years, and in a significant part they are even better. For example, we conducted a very large number of preventive visits in public catering and other places where there are a large number of people — as they say now, in the hospitality industry. And the incidence there has been reduced by about 15%.
— In your opinion, does the moratorium on inspections interfere with the quality of catering?
— Of course, there have been and are certain changes. But we can't just watch if everything goes wrong. Therefore, we took a number of our own measures — we conducted a large number of preventive visits and went into the zone of clarification, clarification, and prevention.
It turned out that we have a large number of facilities that do not notify about their activities at all, but should. We need to know about them, they need to be in the appropriate registry. But there are cases when such institutions start working without telling anyone about it, and therefore they fall out of the control and prevention zone. For this purpose, the norms of the administrative code have been changed, and the penalty for failure to notify has increased many times.
Thanks to the changed legislation, we see the first receipt punched in the catering, regardless of whether it is registered. This has already brought a number of facilities out of the shadows in terms of sanitary and epidemiological supervision.
— And how can the cafe visitors protect themselves? What should I pay attention to?
— We are currently working on a large information system that will make it possible to make information about a particular catering facility and more publicly available. The appearance of such a system is an initiative of the members of the Public Council at Rospotrebnadzor. They suggested that we introduce such a tool that aggregates all permits issued in the Russian Federation to any legal entity. And if there is no necessary document, then a notice will appear on this site, in this system, stating that a visit there is unsafe.
— When will this system work?
— We really hope that it will be quick. We are already using its elements to monitor and stabilize the situation.
— What will this service be called? We can ask readers and viewers for name options.
— I don't know, we are ready to announce an open competition. We'll think about it, but it needs to be done together with the developers.
— And how to protect yourself in retail chains?
— We have reached a new level of control over food products in circulation. We noticed that when we come to retail chains with scheduled inspections, although there are few of them, products from the shelves usually give 2-3% unsatisfactory results. When a person knows in advance about an inspection, he prepares for it. And when we come with an unscheduled check, it turns out that not everything is so good.
That's why we changed the algorithm for monitoring stores. A year ago, we started preparing our entire laboratory system in the country, and we worked out a common methodology. Now, every month, we simultaneously select about 1,000 samples from all regions of the Russian Federation of the same type of product, bring them to our laboratory and conduct research using the same methods, according to the same list of indicators. We have taken it as wide as possible for all types of products.
For example, for fruit and vegetable products, these are 135 indicators, and for baby food — 137. And we also added product quality indicators to them: for example, how much fat, how much protein, corresponds or does not correspond, useful or not useful.
To date, we have fully completed our research on ten food groups: culinary products, dietary supplements, fish, fatty oils, baby food, and water.
— And what are the results?
— Culinary products turned out to be the leader in terms of unsatisfactory indicators. Every second sample contained more bacteria than needed. And today, this material gives us the opportunity to work precisely, precisely, observing the most disadvantaged groups of products.
And the most successful were fruit and vegetable products, mainly of Russian production. There were only 2% of unpleasant findings.
We like this algorithm. Its results include almost 600 warnings and a large number of products withdrawn from sale. It gives results, it's effective. I am sure that the quality of the products on the shelf will be better this year, but we will work on additional control methods for culinary products, because this is a special story.
"We don't have mandatory vaccination of migrants yet"
— In the first four months of 2025, about 600 people fell ill with meningitis in Russia. Almost as much as in the whole of 2024 - 694. What is the current data? And when is it planned to introduce meningococcal vaccination into the national vaccination calendar? So far, it is available only in the regions.
— Epidemiological data should not be compared year to year, month to month, week to week. There are certain rules of medical statistics. This year actually differs little not only from the last one, but also from the previous six. And if we compare it with 2018 and 2019, it is higher. We need to look deeper into the epidemiological analysis.
This depth shows us that 70% of all cases are registered in two metropolitan cities. And more than 80 percent of them are people who came to these cities to work from other countries where other variants of pathogens are circulating. Perhaps they have a certain immune background, protection from what is circulating in those countries. But in Russia, the circulation is different. Russians in 86 out of 89 regions practically do not suffer from meningococcal infection — we have minimal figures there. The entire incidence is concentrated in only a few regions.
Hence the answer to your question about whether it is worth introducing vaccination into the national calendar. Absolutely not necessary.
But the measures that have been taken today in these three regions are certainly effective. And today we are already seeing a decrease in the number — everyone who should have been vaccinated has been vaccinated, and an inoculation campaign is underway where, according to epidemic indications, they need to be vaccinated. In all other regions, there are no grounds for epidemic indications, therefore they do not vaccinate there, except for those people who are at risk.
— You recently described the situation with measles as controlled. After the rise of last year, the incidence rate has been decreasing — four times in just seven months compared to the same period last year. Which regions have the most significant measles outbreaks this year?
— For measles, the focus is one case of morbidity. And we are working on the situation, even if the diagnosis is "suspected measles." And we are more than happy with this hyper-vigilance. It is better to do a little more, but to prevent the spread. Worse, if the first case is missed, then there are a lot of contacts, and this infection is contagious.
But if we talk about the situation today, it is practically stable. And the current decline is what it should be, because the measures that have been taken throughout the country are quite effective. Today, all regions of the country are provided with the vaccine, and a full range of measures is being carried out in each outbreak. So I can say that we have already experienced the wave that a huge number of countries on the planet are experiencing now. The world is experiencing the rise of measles, the peak of measles, and we predicted this situation, we prepared for it. In many ways, this is a post—cold war story - in a number of countries, due to the pandemic, there was a pause in the immunization of children and adults, so they are not coping yet. But we can do it.
The same applies to rubella, the numbers are small, but we have taken the necessary measures. And now amendments have been registered to the resolution of the chief state sanitary doctor for rubella. We are changing the focal work. We have a test system that allows us to conduct a PCR study and detect rubella in a timely manner. The scientists have worked out everything, analyzed it, and confirmed that this is how it will work.
— Is there a possibility to increase the control over vaccination of migrants?
— So far, we do not have mandatory vaccination of migrants. And who will vaccinate them? For whose money? So far, the subject or the employer is vaccinating according to these indications. We offer employers to vaccinate against the flu now, and they are very actively doing this, understanding what will happen and how. And in order for employers to offer vaccinations against a particular infection, it is necessary to understand the epidemiological situation in the country from which the workforce comes to us very well. Take, for example, the situation with cholera — we have offered the employer a whole range of measures, although these are not standards, but recommendations. And now we are keeping the spread of this disease under control, the situation is stable.
But there is a very deep crisis in the reliability of data on the global epidemic situation. And to understand what is happening, we, for example, work in the countries of the Eurasian Economic Union, in the countries of the far abroad.
— In January of this year, about fifty people were infected with hepatitis in an oncological dispensary in Kamchatka. What did the Rospotrebnadzor investigation show? How many victims are there in the end? And will the agency defend the interests of the victims in court?
— I would not talk about the results now, because this is a criminal case. His security forces are investigating. And while this process is underway, it is not possible to comment on it. But in terms of the measures that we have taken, we have changed the standard. Because it was probably impossible to assume that the infection would be in a polyclinic, in a non-stationary institution. But the fact happened. It's a sad, scary fact. And we have developed a new algorithm to take control of this segment too and prevent a repeat of what happened.
We have changed the system of laboratory control and production control for these institutions. And today, fortunately, there is no repetition. But at the same time, we remain in a situation of particularly close attention to such institutions.
I must say that the health authorities of the subject have taken certain measures so that those who can be cured and treated can be cured. And the treatment is not that cheap. But the subject agreed to it, for which I thank him very much.
— What kind of flu is expected this year? And when and how to start getting vaccinated?
— We need to start now, precisely because there is still no high level of seasonal respiratory viral infections. And the flu hasn't come yet, we're only seeing isolated cases. And it takes time for the immune system to develop. Therefore, it is worth getting vaccinated now to be ready for the season. And I want to tell you that domestic vaccines are better than foreign ones. We have already shown this in our research.
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