WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE «GOLDEN AUTUMN», EXPERTS FROM THE FGBU «VGNKI» HOLD A CONFERENCE DEDICATED TO THE FOOD SAFETY CONTROL

On October 5, within the framework of the 23rd Russian agroindustrial exhibition "Golden Autumn-2021" The Russian State Center for Animal Feed and Drug Standardization and Quality (FGBU «VGNKI») together with the Rosselkhoznadzor held a conference «Food Quality Control - guarantee of a healthy society». The event was moderated by Danil Rudnyaev, Deputy Director of FGBU «VGNKI».

In his speech, Danil Rudnyaev talked about how the Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) inspections of veterinary drug manufacturing sites are conducted during the restrictions associated with the new coronavirus pandemic.

In 2020, 10 out of 16 foreign productions were inspected via online, and in the first 9 months of 2021, 10 out of 18. In just 2 years the Rosselkhoznadzor received 44 applications from foreign companies for remote inspections, 20 of them have already been carried out, and 5 will take place before the end of the year.

Deputy Director of FGBU «VGNKI» Vasilina Gritsyuk in her report gave a detailed description of all stages of the state registration of feed additives and talked about relevant changes in legislation.

 On January 1, 2022, the Federal Law № 179-FZ will come into force, which will reduce the registration procedure to 45 working days. Feed additives that were approved before entering into force of the law will be included in the state register without re-registration.

In addition, the document includes the procedure for suspending circulation of feed additives. Vasilina Gritsyuk explained that the Rosselkhoznadzor may suspend circulation of a feed additive in a number of cases: when negative effects of a product not declared in the instructions for use are revealed, when a genetically engineered modified organism not indicated during registration is found in a feed additive, as well as when a registered feed additive does not meet mandatory requirements and documentation requirements.

Ekaterina Agrinskaya, Head of the Certification Body of FGBU «VGNKI», told about voluntary certification systems, under which it is possible to get a certificate for veterinary drugs and cosmetics for animal care, breeding material, feed for non-productive and farm animals and feed supplements. Since July 2021, employees of the institution can also conduct voluntary certification of organic products.

Applicants who have confirmed the conformity of their products in FGBU «VGNKI» get the right to use the mark of conformity. It can be applied to the accompanying documentation, used for product labeling and for promotional purposes.

Oksana Tochieva, Deputy Head of the Service of Expertise of Veterinary Drugs, Feed Supplements and Pharmacovigilance, told how pharmacovigilance is organized in Russia and what role FGBU «VGNKI» plays in its implementation.

The institution's specialists analyze information on adverse reactions, including establishing a cause-and-effect relationship between the use of a veterinary medicinal product and the occurrence of adverse reactions, and send recommendations to minimize the negative consequences of its use. Based on the information received, the Rosselkhoznadzor makes decisions either to amend the instructions for use or to suspend the use of the drug and withdraw it from circulation.

Another relevant topic is the detection of pesticides in food products. According to various sources, 65 to 156 thousand tons of plant protection agents are used annually in Russia on the area of 70 million hectares.

Senior researcher of FGBU «VGNKI» Alexander Kozhushkevich said that the scientists of the Center by the end of this year will develop a new method of determining different types of pesticides in products of animal and plant origin, beekeeping, feed and fodder supplements. It will allow to identify 78 active substances operatively.

At the conference, presentations were also made by Yuri Boev, Deputy Head of the regulatory division of the Department of Veterinary Medicine of the Ministry of Agriculture of Russia, Olga Gevlich, Head of Research on epizootology, monitoring, development and technological control of FSE «Stavropolskaya Biofabrika», researchers of FGBU «VGNKI» Elizaveta Koseicheva and Dmitry Makarov.