Center of Expertise “Test”: There is no vegetable fats in hard cheese produced by Pyryatynsky and Bashtansky cheese plants

25 April 2012

On April 12, 2012 during a press conference in Kiev the Center of Expertise “Test” published study results of 22 samples of cheese. Among them 15 samples were produced in Ukraine and are forbidden to sell in Russia, 5 samples were produced in Russia and 2 — in Belarus. In this independent study hard cheese from Bashtansky and Pyryatynsky cheese plants were tested.

The studies were conducted in parallel in three Russian and one Ukrainian laboratories. Independent examination of four research laboratories of the Russian Federation and Ukraine did not identify vegetable fats in any of Ukrainian cheeses. The studies were ordered by the “International Confederation of Consumer Societies” in conjunction with the Research Center of Independent Consumer Expertise “TEST”.

None of the four laboratories tested Ukrainian cheese, did not find vegetable fats in them — in the everyday sense of the term: Ukrainian cheeses do not contain palm oil.

In all laboratories the cheeses were tested by the method based on the determination of fatty acid composition recommended by Rospotrebnadzor.

The Director of The Center of Expertise “TEST” Valentine Bezrukiy said: “Such a comprehensive study conducted by different laboratories and different techniques in the two countries allows one to conclude that there are no vegetable fats in Ukrainian cheeses.”

Only one of the 22 cheese samples contained vegetable oil. This cheese was produced in the Republic of Tatarstan (Russia) and two laboratories have confirmed the results of three studies.

The research protocols can be found on the website of The Center of Expertise “Test” — http://test.org.ua.