Offal kit: examination confirmed violations in canned food for the army
A new examination has been completed in the case of Viktor Tarazevich, the former head of the food department of the Ministry of Defense, on the supply of low-quality canned food for the army, Izvestia has learned. Rosselkhoznadzor specialists have confirmed that the products of the Selyatino meat processing plant do not meet the requirements of GOST: they revealed a lack of protein, violations of consistency and appearance. In addition, DNA from chicken and cattle was found in pork stew. What other violations did the experts find and whether their conclusion could affect the punishment of Tarazevich and other defendants — in the Izvestia article.
New expertise
The inspection of the IPC Selyatino products as part of the investigation into the supply of low-quality canned food to the SVO zone was carried out for the second time. The first one was organized in May shortly after the initiation of the criminal case on the basis of the All-Russian Research Institute of Meat Industry of the Russian Academy of Sciences. The samples were now examined by specialists from the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance. This time, the list of products was expanded: in addition to canned food from different types of meat, the first courses were sent for analysis. All samples, according to Izvestia, were taken from the warehouses of the Semenovsky regiment. The work took 12 days.
The new results confirmed the initial conclusions: almost all of the Selyatino products purchased by the Ministry of Defense do not meet the stated requirements. The claims concerned both the composition and the consistency, taste and appearance. In particular, experts found extraneous DNA in canned pork of the highest grade — Gallus gallus and Bos taurus, that is, chicken and cattle. In addition, the products did not meet the requirements of GOST in appearance, taste and smell.
Violations were detected in almost all samples, including high-grade ham and beef. In some canned foods, the protein and fat values were underestimated, in others they did not meet the standards for the proportion of individual components or the content of added salt.
The new data complemented the results of the first check. Then the experts found that the protein content in the "Selyatinsky" stew was almost a quarter below the norm: 9.8% instead of the required 12% according to GOST. The report also indicated that the ham did not consist of a whole piece of meat, as required by the standard, but of separate fragments of fatty and connective tissue with a large amount of jelly and melted fat. In addition, the jars contained unacceptable impurities of offal, including pork skin trimmings, as well as a large amount of starch not listed on the labels.
Investigation of the case
In May 2026, the Investigative Committee opened a criminal case on fraud in the supply of low-quality canned food for the Ministry of Defense. According to Izvestia, we are talking about 170 tons of products that were sent to the units of the Zapad, Vostok, South and Center groups of troops in the SVO zone, as well as to the Black Sea Fleet. The supplier was the Narmyasprom company, and the canned food was produced by the Naro-Fominsk Selyatino meat processing plant. The defendants in the case are Viktor Tarazevich, the former head of the food department of the Ministry of Defense, and Artyom Baryshkov, the head of the plant.
According to investigators, after receiving the contract, the company began to replace canned meat with cheap offal. This scheme was in effect in 2024-2025. At the same time, representatives of the military department, as the investigation suggests, did not check the contents of the cans. The case file also contains evidence that Tarazevich received five rubles from each half-kilogram jar sent to his detention center.
The damage is estimated at 700 million rubles. According to investigators, the supplied products did not provide adequate nutrition for military personnel in the area of their military operations and participants in counter-terrorism operations.
In May, Tarazevich was charged with especially large-scale fraud and imprisoned. Dmitry Vislobokov, the commercial director of Narmyasprom LLC, was arrested along with him. In August 2026, businessman Dmitry Mizgir, who is considered one of the key participants in the scheme, was detained in Belarus. On September 8, it became known about the arrest in absentia of Selyatino technologist Zinaida Grischuk. The general director of the plant, Artyom Baryshkov, who had escaped from the investigation, was also given a preventive measure in absentia.
What threatens the accused
The article Tarazevich is charged with provides for up to ten years in prison and an additional fine of up to 1 million rubles. Timur Daudi, a lawyer and senior partner of ICA Daudi and Partners, told Izvestia about this.
According to him, the practice in such cases is ambiguous: the defendants can be given both real and suspended sentences. As an example, the lawyer cited the case of fraud in the supply of army watches to the Ministry of Defense for a set of military equipment "Ratnik". In June 2025, some defendants received six to nine years in prison, while others received suspended sentences.
Daudi also explained that committing a crime during the period of mobilization or martial law, during an armed conflict or hostilities is considered an aggravating circumstance. However, this does not change the qualification of fraud under Part 4 of Article 159 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation and does not increase the maximum sentence, which is 10 years in prison.
In addition, the accused may theoretically be charged with other articles during the trial. For example, in the production and marketing of products that do not meet the requirements of life and health safety. But for this it is necessary to prove that the canned food was not just low-quality, but really dangerous for consumers. By itself, non-compliance with GOST does not confirm this, the lawyer emphasized.
Переведено сервисом «Яндекс Переводчик»
