The food safety of a region - is the ability of the food stuffs production system, storage, processing and distributive industries to supply all the population categories of the corresponding territories with them steadily for a year to the consuming capacity extent satisfying the scientifically grounded medical norms. The food safety of regions is based on the rational territorial division of labour in the sphere of agro-industry, rational combination of local and imported products consumption and lack of any barriers at the interregional food trade.
Differences in natural, economical, demographic, social, national and other peculiarities in Russia lead to the division of its regions in solving the problem of food safety into three categories: agrarian - the ones with an expressed agricultural structure of production and the best farming conditions; industrial-agrarian - the ones with equal opportunities for industrial production and agricultural industry, with average farming conditions; industrial - wherein the agricultural industry either is missing at all or is developed extremely insignificantly.
The food supply security is not only the problem of the agro-industrial sector, but also a macroeconomic one connected with the efficiency of social production, the level and spread of personal income, unemployment, the food stuff consumption level, i.e. affects various economic and social aspects.
The leading role, while solving the problem of food safety, should be given to the regional management, the business mechanism of which should include the following aspects: the self-sufficiency of the region (the food stuff availability in the amount and assortment corresponding to the population size and medical consumption norms); the food stuff quality assurance and the degree of conformity of the unhealthy substances content in the food stuffs to their maximum allowable value; the economical availability of food stuffs.
The factors having an effect on the formation of a region´s self-sufficiency are divided into three groups: the ones applied in the sphere of production (the capacity utilization improvement; the expansion of the existent and introduction of new manufacturing capacities; the ones applied in the consumption sphere (the initial level of the population demand of a region for food and the demand´s level change in the forthcoming period); the ones applied in the distributive sphere (the level of the territorial specialization of agricultural and industrial production; the commodity market capacity).
The self-sufficiency mechanism of food security at the regional level should include the measures depending on the potential possibilities of the region itself on the agriproduct manufacturing and processing, its closeness to the territories manufacturing the missing products for the complete supply of the given region in the necessary scale. The regional measures on the development and efficiency upgrading of the agro-industry should include: the observation of zonal-sectorial farming systems; the preservation and restoration of soils´ fertility; the mother seed production support; the stimulation of high-energy cultures production expansion; the support of gardening and winegrowing; the introduction of energy-saving technologies; the upgrading of facilities; the livestock breeding support; the animal epidemic countermeasures carrying out; cushioning of risks in agriculture; the amelioration of short- and long-term credits availability for agricultural and processing organizations; the promotion of business solvency of small management forms in the country; a package of measures on the development of cooperation and integration with agricultural, APC processing enterprises; rendering of consultative aid to agrarian commodity producers and retraining of specialists for rural economy; the creation of state information support in the sphere of agriculture.
The problem of food safety in the market is closely related to the food manufacturing techniques, the availability of information about the safety and quality of the product. The problem of food stuff safety and quality can be referred to the food market zones of "failures", and, as a consequence, their security - to the number of public goods delivered by the state. From the welfare economics point of view the problem of food safety and quality is referred to the number of the agrarian market functioning specific features conditioning its balance in the Pareto-ineffective state. This, in its turn, is the economic foundation of the need for the state policy of interference with the agrarian sphere and the possibility of the society´s financial resources secondary distribution for its development. The biomedical food products quality and safety level formation takes course in the wheels within wheels of technogenetic processes in the circuit "primary product - semi-finished products - finished product". The food quality and security mechanism at the regional level should include the food security monitoring system in all the stages of its production and commercialization; the control over the arrival of substances into soils in the course of farm production.
The economical availability of food stuff is characterized by various population groups´ food products procurability in the market at the fully formed price and income situation (taking into account the arrival of food stuff from private plot) in the amount of the minimum subsistence basket. Besides, the economical availability of food stuff is defined by the possibilities of the rural population to produce stuff for its own consumption in the private plot, and urban one - in the garden-truck patches.
The security mechanism of economic opportunity of the access to food stuffs at the regional level should include: measures on advance in the living standard of the population (wage, pension money, allowance hike); the formation and development of the internal food market (farm products, raw materials and food stuffs market regulations; the farm products wholesaling system development); the farm products and food stuffs shopping and retail prices control with due consideration of the normative commercial viability of their production and the minimum subsistence basket food stuff cost.
Nowadays in Russia the attention of federal and regional government authorities to rural economy has grown significantly, the state financing has increased. Beginning with 2005, the national "APC development" project, the federal law from 29.12.2006 №264-FL "On agricultural development", "Government program of agricultural development and farm products, raw and food stuff market regulations for 2008-2012" formed the agro-industrial complex regulatory government base.
Though, there is no food safety integrated control system at the federal level. There is no law "On food safety" and it is necessary to note that the situation in Russia is as follows: the federal authorities do not guarantee the food security for every separate region - they do not carry out the nationwide policy of farm specialization development and interdistrict food exchange. Under these conditions the region should solve the problem of food safety within the limits of its own territory.
The work is submitted to the Scientific International Conference "Scientific Research of Higher School on Priority Orientations of Science and Technology", June, 13-20, 2008, came to the editorial office on 01.05.2008.