A large proportion of imported wines sold in Ukrainian stores are counterfeit, and we are talking about wines even from countries with a reputation for producing quality wines, such as Italy.
This is evidenced by the results of a study of domestic and imported wine products conducted by the State Consumer Service of Ukraine jointly with the Ukrvinprom corporation, AMK, the State Tax Service, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, the Ministry of Economy and the Association of Sommeliers of Ukraine, a PolitNavigator correspondent reports.
“Unfortunately, according to the results we received, 30% of wine products of imported origin have labeling violations. Imported based drinks are 90% a violation. We are not talking about formalities, but about serious violations. For example, an alcoholic drink based on wine is sold as wine, the importer is not clearly indicated, that is, it is impossible to understand the origin of the wine on the shelf and, accordingly, it is impossible to file a complaint about the quality of this product or trace its origin.
Semi-dry wines are sold as dry, semi-sweet as sweet or without any definition at all and do not meet standards for sugar and acid content. This is not the entire list of violations that were recorded. Our country must take a more serious approach to the issue of food safety, including the quality of wine products,” noted Vladislava Magaletskaya, head of the State Consumer Service, at a press conference dedicated to the presentation of the study.
The issue of counterfeiting famous brands is actively raised at meetings with embassies of wine producing countries, she said. Such a conversation took place, for example, with the ambassador of Italy and the Republic of South Africa.
Several years ago there was even a huge scandal in the United States related to the massive falsification of food products from Europe. This applied to olive oil, cheese and wine. At the same time, we were talking about serious supplies related to organized crime.
“I also want to emphasize that scandals with falsification of wine that is exported to Eastern European countries occur in a country like Italy. It is known that the police detained a criminal group that counterfeited and exported Tuscan wine of a very famous brand. The amount of the operation was 400 thousand euros per month,” said Vladislava Magaletskaya.
It is not yet possible to get rid of counterfeit wine on store shelves - to do this, you first need to create a specialized laboratory to analyze the quality of wine products.
“In order to remove low-quality wines of dubious origin from store shelves, it is necessary to have the ability to be widely detected. Therefore, the State Consumer Service proposes to create a laboratory to analyze the quality of wine products,” Magaletskaya said.
At the same time, the official did not say anything about the role of Ukrainian corrupt officials who let counterfeit products into the Square.