vlad.tribnet.com / Issue #162 / Business / Reading article...

Consumer tastes shift like the wind in post-Soviet Russia, a function of aggressive marketing and the flood of new products from abroad. Here in Primorye, the vanguard of changing culinary tastes gathers twice monthly on the third floor of the Krai Committee on Food and the Food Processing Industry.

“Our job is to evaluate the new products presented to the committee by a variety of small businesses,” explains Larisa Devyatisilnaya, secretary for the Committee’s Tasting Council, over the din of a packed room. “Usually, we don’t have so many people here.”

The number of small food businesses in the krai has exploded in the past two years, with over 100 different meat-processing operations and 300 different bakeries in Vladivostok alone.

The convivial atmosphere belies the authority of the committee. Its approval isn’t required, says committee meat specialist Galina Morezenko, but is duly noted by consumers and producers alike. Only the State Food Inspection Committee has the authority to prohibit the sale of food items, says Morezenko.

The 20 members of the 3-year-old Tasting Council are drawn from the krai food committee, as well as from universities, medical institutes, and inspection committees. After a brief explanation by the presenting business, members ask questions about fat content, the baking process, and prices, all the while scrutinizing the gastronomic and nutritional value of the items.

Confectioner Partizansky Gorpishkombinant offers dark chocolate drops with raisins and peanuts, while council members sample soymilk and soy cottage cheese by Primorkhleboprodukt, scoring everything on a scale of one to five. Tasters praise the marinated scallops with grated carrots from the Center for Experimental Food Technologies at the Far Eastern State Academy of Economics and Management, and they love the rolls, breads, and pastries from Kredo Bread, a private bakery. The council is initially skeptical about sandwiches shrink-wrapped in plastic and Styrofoam from China Town Ltd. But a good sales pitch from the company’s representative wins over most members.

“We’re constantly trying to improve our products,” comments Kredo Bread owner and founder Vladimir Poznyak. “The council here helps us to improve our products.”

Meat specialist Morezenko says the number of small food businesses in the krai has exploded in the past two years, with over 100 different meat-processing operations and 300 different bakeries in Vladivostok alone. Thus, she says, instead of allowing consumers and the market to be the sole arbiter of a product’s taste or appeal, the Tasting Council serves consumers by providing a guide for new products. At one council meeting last year, members sampled and critiqued 17 different kinds of salamis and sausages.

Valentina Vasilevich, manager of the experimental food technologies center at the academy of economics and management, says that her marinated scallops, squid, and other seafood salads cater to the more expensive palate. She says others claim the seafood has a medicinal effect.

In the end, the council sends Primorkhleboprodukt’s soymilk and Partizansky Gorpishkombinat’s chocolate drops with peanuts back to the factories for further work. But the group overwhelmingly approves the other products.

“The most important thing now,” Chairman Vladimir Zorin announces at meeting’s end, “is to bring these products to the consumers.”

Look for soy cottage cheese on a market shelf soon.