OREANDA-NEWS  The process of import substitution of food and food products in Russia has now been completed, and citizens have full access to domestic products. This was announced by the head of the Department of Hygienic Education and Communication Projects of Rospotrebnadzor Ekaterina Golovkova, her words are quoted by TASS.

As part of the Demography project, the department's analysts conducted a total of 1.2 million studies on 121 quality indicators, Golovkova noted. She called their results "excellent." Experts concluded that the population now has no problems with access to Russian food in retail chains and grocery stores. "The import substitution process has been completed, and domestic products are fully represented on the shelves," Golovkova summarized.

She added that over the past six years, the agency's experts have examined a total of about 54 thousand food samples for the content of micro- and macronutrients. At the same time, the degree of awareness of Russians regarding healthy eating has also increased. Similar domestic products are also widely represented in retail stores across the country, Golovkova concluded.

The share of imported food products in Russia has been steadily declining since 2014, when the domestic authorities announced a food embargo on a number of categories of foreign food. From 2014 to 2021, the share of imported food products in retail trade decreased from 34 to 24 percent, and in the largest chains — to less than 10 percent. At the beginning of the second half of September 2024, Russian President Vladimir Putin extended the embargo on food imports from Western countries until 2026. This measure is designed to further stimulate domestic producers to increase their presence in the domestic market.