Russia's Fish Union urged Lower House to make law on food traceability

Russia's Fish Union amalgamating one of two rival groups of seafood importers and processors has called on Duma to make a Federal Law on origin, movement and identification of food products, reports http://www.megafishnet.com/.

The statement has been made by the Union's executive director Sergey Gudkov speaking at a round table on food quality and government's food safety controls organized by the Agrarian Committee of the Lower House of the Russian Parliament. 

According to Gudkov, the government is currently regulating only the safety of food while the quality issue is fully at the discretion of the producer. As a result, quite a number of companies will overlook quality in favour of minimization of costs.

Meanwhile should the consumer be given the traceability tool, it would help chose the right product from a manufacturer working in good faith. On the other hand, the supervising authority would be able to check the authenticity of the data.

Retailers would play a key role in the mechanism by displaying origins, transfer history and species identification at the point of sale to the consumer.