Food safety as an object of criminological study and legal protection

Introduction: the author studies the mechanisms of criminal protection against crimes in food trade. Materials and Methods: the study is based on the Russian legislation regu;ating social relations on security and required quality of food products. The author highlights basic Articles of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation that form criminal protection against crimes in food trade. Formal and logical, history and legal, and comparative analysis were used during the study. Results: important data were obtained that show increased trend in the illicit traffic in food products. The author defined social and economical factors that circumstances that enabled the offence to be committed. Discussion and Conclusions: the author comes to the conclusion that the differentiation and strengthening of criminal liability for the actions that linked to illicit food products trafficking were timely and had exerted a positive influence on manufacturers, sellers, and consumers of alcohol products. The author argues on arguments in favour of criminal liability for trafficking in counterfeit and substandard dietary supplements.