Needles were found in the frozen chicken received by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It is believed that the poultry may have been artificially increased in volume by pumping it with water. The Ministry of Defence agency responsible for the supply, the State Logistics Operator (DOT), has announced its intention to conduct an internal investigation into the incident.
The incident was reported by Gennadiy Kryvosheya, a member of the Public Anti-Corruption Council at the Ministry of Defence. He also noted that all the products of this batch are currently being prepared for return to the supplier, and the Ministry of Defence is actively working to resolve this issue.
Kryvosheya called on the State Logistics Operator to immediately take appropriate measures to revise the terms of the contract with the supplier responsible for the incident.
According to information provided to hromadske, the DOT explained that the problem arose due to the absence of a norm in the technical specifications regarding the permissible level of water in the meat being purchased. The agency also assured that it had already initiated the relevant changes and sent its proposals to the Main Department for the Development of Material Support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The entire batch of chicken in which the needles were found has now been returned to the supplier. In addition, according to the terms of the contract, the supplier will receive a fine of 20% of the total cost of the returned meat.
According to Tatiana Nikolayenko, a journalist and member of the Public Anti-Corruption Council at the Ministry of Defence, the company that supplied the meat is Mit Prom. She stressed that pumping meat with water is a way to increase profits, and some intermediaries even buy special equipment for such manipulations, which allows them to make one and a half or two tonnes of meat from one tonne.
According to the YouControl platform, Mit Prom is engaged in wholesale trade and meat production, and its owner is Olga Mikhailova. It is also known that Mit Prom’s legal successor is Ukr Agro Mit, a company located in Rava-Ruska and owned by Ihor Kreminets.
As a reminder, in May 2024, the Ministry of Defence approved new regulations on food for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, developed jointly with the State Logistics Operator. The food catalogue was supplemented with a variety of spices, cereals, fish and canned food.
In June of the same year, the State Logistics Operator signed contracts with suppliers worth more than UAH 17 billion to provide the Armed Forces of Ukraine with food for the second half of the year. The average cost of one meal was UAH 109.22.
