1/ Yevgeny Prigozhin is known as "Putin's chef" for his many contracts to supply the Russian government with catering and food. But last year the Russian Ministry of Defence sued him 560 times for supplying the Russian army with poor-quality, rotten and infected food. ⬇️ 
2/ The independent Russian Telegram channel 'We can explain' reports that in 2022 the Russian MOD's procurement arm, Voentorg, filed 560 lawsuits against food suppliers associated with Prigozhin, claiming more than 107 million rubles ($1,555,780) in damages.
3/ 'We can explain' comments: "This is a record number of lawsuits in a single year of litigation between the department and the supplier, although it is not a record amount. Voentorg claimed the most money from Prigozhin's companies in 2020 – 197.1 million rubles ($2,866,283)."
4/ The war in Ukraine has greatly increased the logistical demands on the army's food supplies, with a similar increase in the number of irregularities and litigation over food provision. Prigozhin's companies not only supply it but prepare and serve it directly.
5/ According to 'We can explain', "Auditors regularly find violations, such as under-full quantities of food, expired products, substitutions of substituted products with substitutes of other quality, ...
6/ ... E. coli detected in food, cooks without health certificates, violations in storage, and so on."
This isn't the first time Prigozhin's companies have faced complaints and litigation over the vile quality of their products, including insects and bacteria being found in it.
This isn't the first time Prigozhin's companies have faced complaints and litigation over the vile quality of their products, including insects and bacteria being found in it.
7/ Firms owned by or linked to Prigozhin – 22 such companies were identified by Russian journalists in 2017 – also supply food to kindergarten students, patients in hospitals and sanatoriums, and the emergency services. However, there have been repeated scandals.
8/ Since 2011, at least 711 lawsuits have been filed against these firms for almost 900 million rubles ($13,074,743). Many violations involving foreign bodies in food have been reported, including worms, cockroaches, pieces of plastic, human hair and beetles.
9/ Rotten and infected food has also been repeatedly reported. Hundreds of firefighters, soldiers, cadets, schoolchildren and residents of sanatoria supplied by Prigozhin have fallen ill in outbreaks of rotavirus, salmonella, gastroenteritis, staphylococcus aureus and e. coli.
10/ In December 2018, there was a mass outbreak of dysentery in seven kindergartens in Moscow, with 127 people falling ill. It was traced back to cottage cheese provided by one of Prigozhin's companies.
11/ Poor hygiene practices were deemed to be responsible. Food safety inspectors found e. coli "everywhere in the mentioned companies: in washings, on the hands of workers, in food."
12/ Prigozhin's companies have also been sued for what is reportedly a common scam in Russia – providing less than was paid for. Undersized portions, expired food and substituted cheaper ingredients have all been the subject of complaints and lawsuits.
13/ Despite all of this, Prigozhin has continued to be awarded contracts for food supply – 39.8 billion rubles' worth ($578,194,500) in 2017, which was also the year with the highest amount of litigation. It's a sign that influence is more important in Russia than safe food. /end
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