The DOT team presented proposals to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the Logistics and Medical Forces Commands to update the nomenclature of the food catalog for the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The aim of the initiative is to optimize the assortment, maintaining its diversity while preventing the erosion of the overall cost of the food package.
The revision of the catalog is based on data obtained during the digitalization of the food consumption accounting process. This allowed us to make decisions based on real statistical data.
Due to active hostilities and changing requests from the military, it is proposed to remove from the catalog items that are not actually ordered due to difficulties with transportation, storage or consumption. This includes certain meat, dairy, vegetable and fruit items. For example, it is planned to replace raspberries with blueberries, chilled pork and some fish items with partially frozen ones, etc.
“As practice shows, due to the longer shelf life, the military, given an alternative, prefer to buy frozen meat and fish items rather than chilled ones. Berries, in particular raspberries, require special transportation and storage conditions, so they often arrive of inadequate quality. As for fish, we plan to expand the range of Ukrainian producers, in particular, to add calibrated fish steaks, cleaned and gutted frozen fish from local production. The other items proposed for removal have similar characteristics in the catalog, so these changes will not affect the overall diversity of the assortment,” comments Galina Litosh, Director of the DOT Food Program.
In addition, there is a request to add new items to the catalog that are not currently provided for but are in demand among the staff. Among them are marshmallows, halva, cupcakes, frozen silverfish steak, bottled water in containers up to 6 liters, etc.
“This year's catalog contains 360 items, some of which are not actually used. This creates risks of price manipulation and complicates the formation of an economically justified cost of the set as a whole. We have already gone through the stages of updating the catalog, so the current changes are a logical continuation of this work. We are planning to adjust the number of items to about 340,” says Halyna Litosh.
We are also analyzing product descriptions: they must comply with current state standards but also reflect the actual product offer on the market.
The updated catalog is scheduled to be introduced in 2026. The changes are expected to be finalized and approved by September this year.
The next step is to work with the market, analyze offers and finalize the composition of the updated catalog.
