ENSURING HIGH QUALITY MEAT SUPPLY FOR THE RUSSIAN MEAT-PROCESSING INDUSTRY
The paper discusses the main challenges of the Russian meat industry in the modern economy. Increasing globalization of the economy and the inefficient WTO control center generate discriminatory practices in the import of food products which poses a threat to food security in Russia. This situation is particularly characteristic of the market of meat products. Russian producers are still unable to meet the demand for this type of food. Hence, meat market demands in Russia are met largely by imports. Imported meat products account for more than half of the meat market volume in Russia. The process of globalization and trade cooperation creates a serious challenge for the domestic meat producers regarding improving quality of the products. Food safety of the meat products must comply with the normative documents of the Russian Federation (standards, sanitary and hygienic norms and rules) as well as the requirements of the regulations in the importing countries. The paper presents an analysis of the dynamics of meat and meat products imports in Russia over the past 3 years, identifies factors restricting the development of the meat industry, examines the challenges of introducing quality control system in the Russian meat industry and ways to overcome them.