Fake Russian cheese floods shops in wake of EU import ban

Fake Russian cheese: Almost  four fifths  of the cheese on sale in Russian shops is fake, the  country’s health and safety watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor claimed last week, as local producers capitalise on  increased demand by substituting palm oil for milk.
Sales of domestically produced dairy goods have gone through the roof over the past year since the Kremlin retaliated against Western sanctions by slapping a ban on food imports from the EU, including high-quality European dairy products.  Many  Russian producers have been taking advantage of the lack of competition to pad out their products with cheaper palm oil. Rosselkhoznadzor estimates that about 25% of all dairy products on sale in Russia are now counterfeit, with the cheese shelves by far the worst affected.