Consumer Day is celebrated in Belarus

Today, Belarus celebrates Consumer Day under the slogan "Healthy Eating is the Choice of the Modern Consumer," as reported to BELTA by the press service of the Ministry of Trade.

"The choice of the national slogan is linked to the theme of World Consumer Rights Day for 2015, determined by the International Organisation of Consumers Unions (CI). Consumer Days are held with a similar theme in Russia and a number of other countries," the Ministry of Trade stated.

According to the World Health Organisation, a balanced diet plays a key role in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases, certain oncological diseases, obesity, and diabetes mellitus. Poor nutrition is cited as one of the main causes of excess weight, high blood pressure, high blood glucose levels, and high cholesterol levels.

"Belarusian food products have proven themselves well in both domestic and foreign markets. Domestic producers are constantly increasing the output of new types of products, balanced in their nutritional composition. Dairy processing, meat, confectionery, and bakery enterprises of the republic are actively working in this direction," the press service noted.

The Ministry of Trade is taking measures to provide the population with a wide range of food products, including those for preventive purposes. The mandatory assortment lists for retail outlets include whole milk products with a fat content of no more than 2.5%, live fish, crispbread, cereal flakes, iodised salt, herbal teas, and fresh fruit and vegetable products. In order to increase the sales of fresh fruit and vegetable products, a monthly supply schedule for potatoes, vegetables, and apples from domestic producers (over 20 crops) to the retail network for 2015 has been approved jointly with the Ministry of Agriculture and Food and Belkoopsoyuz. Stabilisation stocks of crop products have been created in the regions and in Minsk to guarantee the population's supply during the off-season period of 2014/2015.

In 2014, compared to 2013, trade organisations increased sales of fruit by 20.9%, vegetables by 8.5%, meat products by 5.4%, fish and seafood by 7.4%, and baby food by 9.77%.

Measures taken to combat smoking and alcoholism have led to a 9.4% decrease in the sale of tobacco products and a 7% decrease in alcoholic beverages.

At the same time, as noted by the Ministry of Trade, the current structure of food consumption does not fully comply with the norms recommended by the Ministry of Health. The population consumes a large amount of sugar, meat products, eggs, and fats, with low consumption of fish and seafood, fruits, dairy products, and potatoes. Over the past 5 years (from 2009 to 2013), per capita consumption of meat and meat products increased by 13 kg (from 78 to 91 kg per person per year), eggs by 45 units (289 to 304 units), sugar by 1.4 kg (40.6 to 42 kg), and vegetable oil by 4.1 kg (from 13.6 to 17.7 kg). Meanwhile, fish consumption decreased by 0.5 kg (from 15.4 to 14.9 kg), potatoes by 5 kg (from 184 to 179 kg), and vegetables by 2 kg (from 148 to 146 kg).

News of Belarus (BELTA)