High quality guaranteed

The excellent quality of Belarusian food has long become one of the country’s brands. Gourmets from different countries are happy to buy Belarusian cheeses, butter, meat products, and milk. Our reporters visited the Scientific and Practical Centre of the National Academy of Sciences of Belarus for Food and clearly saw how they maintain the high reputation of the food industry and introduce new products into the family of healthy and safe food.

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Get to the bottom of it

It’s not for nothing that they say that stability is a sign of mastery. The food research centre adds: and the result of careful control. One of the elements of a clearly structured system for achieving quality at the centre is the activities of the Republican Control and Testing Complex For the Quality and Safety of Food Products. The scale is impressive: last year alone, about 15 thousand product samples were examined here — both raw materials and finished products.
The research is more than meticulous. For example, here is the chromatographic research laboratory, where we were invited by the SPC staff. One of four in the complex. Here they can recognise, in particular, the addition of vegetable oils to animal products and thereby eliminate falsification, determine the presence of preservatives, dyes, flavours, pesticides and much more.
We found chemical engineer Zakhar Tikhanovich in the process of determining benzaperene in specially prepared laboratory samples. Smoked fish and meat products are sometimes guilty of the presence of this carcinogen, a laboratory employee noted, “We detect benzaperene using high-performance liquid chromatography using special equipment — a chromatograph. One sample, taking into account all stages of work, takes more than a day. It helps that you can work with several samples at once in parallel. It turns out to be a kind of conveyor belt.”

Trubach Tatyana, leading chemical engineer at the food laboratory of Gosstandart, knows all the intricacies of food production  Ilya Shvedko

In addition to laboratories, the control and testing complex includes a testing organisation group that works directly with customers.
“These can be both manufacturers and suppliers. All groups of food products are tested. The product will be released into stores only if the final conclusion indicates that it meets all the requirements for it,” head of the complex Kristina Ryabova notes. 
By the way, there are few complaints about Belarusian products. Imports can be more difficult. For example, microbiologists carefully monitor bulk products: spices, herbs, seasonings, teas. Specialists from the chromatographic research laboratory identify violations in the use of preservatives. And the centre calls cadmium in sunflower seeds and cinnamon ‘classics of the genre’; claims here must be made to agricultural producers.

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New items in assortment

These days, they say, it is impossible to reinvent the wheel. This rule does not apply to food products. Every year, employees of the Scientific and Production Centre for Food develop dozens of new recipes and technologies for the food industry.
“It is necessary to achieve a stable supply of the population with a wide range of safe and high-quality food products. A personalised approach has also become a current trend in recent times: it is necessary to take into account the needs of different groups of the population — depending on lifestyle, age, health status and level of physical activity,” the scientific secretary of the Scientific and Practical Centre for Food Kristina Zhakova emphasises. 
What is the result? It would seem that well-known food products began to sparkle with unusual (and not only) flavours. For example, new types of sauce products have appeared, including those using non-traditional raw materials — bruined and pickled cucumbers, watermelons, sour berries, sweet sauces, pastes. And they cost 3-4 times lower (!) than the price of similar imported products. And what about juices? What’s new in them? However, the innovative technology introduced at one of the enterprises made it possible to preserve up to 75-80 percent of heat-unstable vitamin C. Drink for your health.
Recent developments also include advanced baby food products. The Kommunarka factory, famous throughout the post-Soviet space, pleased with chocolate products with biologically active substances — calcium, vitamin D, dietary fibre. By the way, they just recently presented dried milk pellets — an analogue of the popular Chinese delicacy. Cereal chocolate balls coated in white chocolate and milk powder have a banana flavour. The milk powder content reaches almost 40 percent of the weight of the candy. The Gomel factory Spartak has recently been pampering children with fruit bars with dried fruits, cereals, and apple dietary fibre. The line of juices for children has been replenished with new products, which include zucchini, sweet peppers, and beets.
There are many other delicious premieres for the younger generation, and not only. Cookies and chocolate for diabetic nutrition, long-lasting marshmallows, vegetable oils corresponding to the world’s best safety analogues, low-protein gluten-free potato snacks, confectionery products for nutrition during intense physical activity, fortified breakfast cereals...
The developments of Belarusian scientists, as a rule, are quickly implemented into production. New items are sometimes easy to spot on the shelves. For example, confectionery products labelled ‘for school meals’.

Ilya Shvedko

Be proud of your own

Many new product items in the assortment of grocery stores in Belarus are a successful and high-quality replacement for imports.
“Import substitution is an integral part of ensuring food security. A lot of work has been done. For example, technologies for processing green peas and sweet corn into canned products have been created and successfully implemented. The production of rapeseed oil is actively developing (based on the content and ratio of fatty acids, it is also called northern olive oil), including for baby food. The issues of providing the population with baby food of all types have been fully resolved. The assortment of quick-frozen mixtures made from local raw materials has been expanded (previously, retail had mainly imported analogues). For the first time, specialised food products have been developed for children with phenylketonuria, a disorder of amino acid metabolism: porridge, mashed potatoes, baking mixes, pasta. A domestic production of canned fish has been created, focused mainly on the use of fresh pond fish from local catches that have not been frozen. The production of science-intensive products has been launched - bacterial concentrates for the dairy industry, as well as biopreservatives,” Kristina Zhakova recalls.

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The 9th edition of the international forum Belarus’ Dairy was held in Minsk last week
More than 500 delegates from 11 countries gathered at the forum.
Belarusian food products are valued and readily purchased in more than 100 countries.
Our country’s successes in the dairy sector are especially phenomenal: producing 1 percent of the world’s milk, Belarus occupies 6 percent of global trade in this product. During the year, about 5 million tonnes of products in terms of milk are sold outside the country. This is the fourth position on the planet after the EU, New Zealand and the USA. In terms of exports of cheese, butter, and milk powder per capita, we are practically ahead of the rest. 

Ilya Shvedko

By Aleksandr Nesterov