AI Is Now Policing the Quality of Russia’s Meat and Dairy
Russia is betting on artificial intelligence to clean up its food supply chain, using machine learning to catch fraud in meat and dairy production in real time.
Since early 2025, officials in Russia’s Primorsky Krai have already flagged 99 violations in dairy production with the help of AI. In the most recent case, an algorithm spotted something strange: a farm turned 930 kilograms of raw milk into almost 938 kilograms of cottage cheese. Given that producing a kilo of cottage cheese usually takes 7–8 liters of milk, the numbers didn’t add up—pointing to the use of extra raw materials of unknown origin and quality.
Oversight is carried out through a state digital platform called Merkury, which tracks every stage of animal-based food production. By integrating AI modules, authorities have dramatically scaled the system’s reach and speed. Today, dozens of algorithms analyze 100 percent of electronic veterinary documents in real time, flagging mismatched inputs, fake production chains, suspicious logistics routes, and other signs of fraud.
Beyond boosting regulatory efficiency, officials say Merkury also creates a fairer marketplace, where law-abiding producers aren’t undercut by competitors cutting corners.
