PepsiCo and Danone have moved to counter accusations from Russia’s agriculture minister over the quality of their products.

On a visit to Omsk on Friday (28 December) Russian agriculture minister Nikolai Fedorov struck out at both Danone and PepsiCo, claiming that their products contain only a fraction of fresh milk. “In these products a maximum of 20% comes from real milk, the rest is a processed milk mixture with coconut, palm oil and other additives,” Fedorov said according to state-owned newswire Itar-Tass.

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The minister urged regional governors to monitor the activities of PepsiCo-owned Wimm-Bill-Dann and Danone’s Unimilk. These businesses should not be allowed to “skim the cream off the cheap raw product that our poor peasants produce”, he insisted.

Danone swiftly moved to counter the accusations, insisting that its standards are among the highest in the dairy sector. The company’s Russian unit said it was “deeply offended” by the minister’s comments which it views as “direct slander” designed to tarnish its reputation in Russia.

“We [have been] working in the Russian market for more than 20 years, have come here to stay, and intend to continue to work for the benefit of our consumers, customers and suppliers,” the firm said in a statement yesterday.

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PepsiCo also refuted the claims. A spokesperson told just-food today: “We produce a broad range of high quality dairy products in Russia, using milk from farmers across the country. Our products and practices fully comply with Russian legislation and we use cow’s milk.”

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Russia first introduced trade restrictions including bans on meat, dairy and produce imported from the US and EU in August. The move came in response to sanctions from Europe and the US over the crisis in the Ukraine.