Brewers Propose Tighter Control of Industry Due to Mass Poisoning by ‘Mr Cider’

The mass poisoning with the drink “Mr. Cider” has become an occasion for the largest brewers to once again raise the issue of strengthening control in the market. The Association of Beer, Malt and Beverage Producers (APP) proposed to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov to tighten supervision over small businesses, draft beer sellers and abandon the “beer drinks” category, under which cocktails are also produced. Other market participants see some proposals as an attempt to get additional preferences.

The executive director of APP (combines AB InBev Efes, Baltika and Heineken United Brewery) Vyacheslav Mamontov sent proposals to Finance Minister Anton Siluanov “to strengthen control and whitewash the market” in connection with the mass shipment of the drink “Mr. Cider”. Kommersant has a copy of the letter dated June 6. The Ministry of Finance did not provide an operational comment.

On June 5, it became known about the mass shipment of the Mister Cider drink, produced by Andi LLC in the Samara region. Residents of the Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Ulyanovsk regions and Udmurtia suffered, several cases ended in death. As Aleksey Russkikh, Governor of the Ulyanovsk Region, clarified, “Mr. Cider”, which contained methanol, was supplied in 30-liter kegs and sold on tap. The turnover of Andi products is blocked, an entrepreneur from the Samara region was detained during the investigation of a criminal case. According to Rospotrebnadzor, on the evening of June 6, 37.6 thousand liters of the Mister Cider drink were withdrawn from circulation, the largest volume was in the Kurgan region, Udmurtia and Crimea.

As noted in the AMS, “the time has come when it is necessary to reconsider the requirements” for the control of manufacturers and sales channels, regardless of the volume of business. In the letter, the association, in particular, proposes to install counters in production for enterprises of all sizes, to tighten the responsibility for illegal circulation and control over the draft segment, and also to abolish the category “beer drinks”.

As Mr. Mamontov writes, this “artificially created category” creates a field for manipulation by unscrupulous players. “Mr. Cider” was also produced as a “clarified filtered apple beer drink”, although it was not a fermentation product, Kommersant’s interlocutors note. As stated in the letter from the APT, the definition of “beer” should be adjusted to include categories of drinks that are recognized as beer around the world.

According to the legislation of the Russian Federation, beer drinks, unlike beer, may contain ingredients other than malt, hops and brewer’s yeast. The category includes brands such as Hoegaarden and Corona Extra.

As noted in the AMS, it is through the draft beer channel that the main volume of illegal products passes. They previously supported the installation of meters in all breweries and considered the introduction of the “beer drink” category to be erroneous. Small and medium-sized brewers considered the installation of counters for small enterprises to be an excessive measure, threatening additional costs, and advocated tougher requirements for the content of malt in beer.

Nikolay Zhelagin, the founder of the Beru Vykhodny chain of beer stores, says that production meters do not guarantee total control, and the abolition of the category of beer drinks is an attempt by the largest players to achieve the opportunity to produce beer with a lower proportion of malt in the composition in order to reduce costs. According to him, alcoholic cocktails are often produced under the guise of “beer drinks” and it is logical if only a fermented drink would be recognized as a beer product. Igor Khavsky, co-owner of the Gletcher brewery, acting chairman of the Opora Rossii commission for the production and circulation of brewing products, adds that it may be worth demanding that manufacturers of such drinks have full-cycle equipment.

The general director of Volkovskaya Brewery, Alexei Aksel, generally considers it strange to use the case of illegal production of alcohol, which has nothing to do with beer and cider, to propose measures to regulate the brewing market. In his opinion, inspections at points of sale to identify questionable products can help reduce risks. Independent expert Aleksey Nebolsin notes that it is enough for Rosalkogolregulirovanie (RAR) to strengthen control over the name of products put into circulation in order to identify dubious “beer drinks”. And Igor Khavsky proposes to expand the number of reasons for conducting PAP control measures and develop such reasons for Rospotrebnadzor inspections.

Anatoly Kostyrev