| Abstract: |
On 1 July, the Russian government ordered that the entire life cycle of meat products must be inputted into the Mercury unified information system. Within that system marks should be made at all stages of supply chain, for example when live animals leave a farm to the slaughterhouse, or when meat leaves a processing plant. The introduction of this system was designed to improve the veterinary and sanitary control on the market in Russia, as no meat products without the proper electronic certificate, or with some gaps in supply chain, could hit the grocery shelves, according to the Russian veterinary watchdog Rosselhoznadzor, which was appointed to operate the new system. However, not every company in Russia has managed to connect to Mercury. Some small-scale farms have reported several problems with new requirements, and difficulties passing the bureaucratic procedure, while some farms located in the remote rural regions of the country have no physical ability to be connected to the system. |
