One year into its embargo on western food products, Russia has launched a controversial campaign to destroy all contraband meat, dairy and produce, using on-the-spot incinerators, dump trucks, rollers and meat grinders.

On Thursday, three federal agencies began confiscating and burning hundreds of tonnes of illicit cheese, fruit and other goods, acting on a decree signed by Vladimir Putin. Incinerators to destroy the food have been placed at Russian border points stretching from Kaliningrad in the west to St Petersburg in the north and Altai in the east.

By mid-afternoon on Thursday, Russia’s agricultural watchdog announced that it had already destroyed 55 tonnes of peaches, nectarines and tomatoes in Smolensk; 20 tonnes of cheese in Orenburg; and nine tonnes of cheese in Belgorod.