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The Head of the Chair is Doctor of Engineering Science, Professor Lyudmila Yeliseyeva.

The academic staff of the Chair includes 35 members: 11 Doctors of Sciences, Professors; 16 Masters of Sciences, Assistant Professors; 1 senior lector and 3 degreeless assistants working on their theses.

The Chair of Commodity Science and Commodity Examination is the University's age-mate. The history of the Chair is intimately connected with the development of Commodity Science and the related educational process.

The prime movers in Commodity Science in Russia are Y. Nikitinskiy Sr. and P. Petrov. A major contribution to the food microbiology development was made by Professors Y. Nikitinskiy Jr., F. Chistyakov and K. Mudretsova-Viss. Professor F. Kasatkin created a refrigerating laboratory based on which a higher educational institution and the Research Institute of the Refrigeration Industry were established in Leningrad.

The Chair acts as the basic one for teaching Commodity Science at the same-type higher educational institutions of Russia and neighboring countries. The Chair teachers are the authors of over 30 basic textbooks, under which they teach at the higher educational institutions of Russia and the CIS countries. In just past three years, 15 textbooks and manuals, as well as 15 laboratory and practical courses were published.

Both the scientists and staff members of the Chair made the priority innovations on the problems of the fruit and vegetable storage and processing (Prof. S. Yermilov, Prof. F. Tserevitinov, Prof. A. Kolesnik, Assistant Professor S. Bruyev, Prof. L. Yeliseyeva, Prof. M. Nikolayeva and others), the derivation and application of the zero-emission smoking agents to improve the quality and safety of smoked food products, as well as the environmental situation (Assistant Professor I. Lapshin, Prof. T. Rodina and postgraduates). The technological developments of derivation of margarine and other fatty products by Prof. N. Kozin and his staff became worldwide famous. Prof. A. Ryzhakova still performs the research and developments on the confectionery products quality and preservation ability improvement problems.

A major contribution to the non-foodstuffs commodity science development was made by Prof. M. Sergeyev, Prof. A. Bochvar, Prof. N. Arkhangelskiy, Prof. N. Alekseyev, Prof. B. Tserevitinov, Prof. N. Chernov, Prof. B. Streltsov and others. The research developments performed by Prof. Y. Platov and Assistant Professor R. Platova contribute to the domestic porcelain quality improvement.

Both the teachers and postgraduates of the Chair took an active part in defending our country against the fascist occupiers during the Great Patriotic War. Such veterans of the Great Patriotic War as Assistant Professor D. Bakzevich, Assistant Professor V. Yeremenko, Assistant Professor N. Smolskiy, Prof. M. Gabrielyants, Assistant Professor I. Lapshin, Assistant Professor V. Zaytsev, Prof. V. Mesyachenko, Assistant Professor Y. Kedrin, Prof. L. Lovachev were all enrolled on the list of the Memorial Book. Professor G. Zharikova and Assistant Professor V. Kuzmina are the veterans of the rear.

Those textbooks, reference literature and scientific monographs made by the academic staff of the Chair were multiply published in the USSR and Russia, as well as they are the basic, training and academic literature for training specialists.

The leading role in the foodstuffs commodity examination is played by the sensory (organoleptic) analysis conducted by the scientifically-based methods. The question of the scientific approach to the use of an expert's sensory organs to control the foodstuffs quality was first ever in the world posed by the Chair Professor V. Gryuner in 1933. In the second half of the last century, such science as Organoleptics evolved in the leading countries. The Chair of Commodity Science, for the first time ever in Russia, arranged the teaching of such discipline for the commodity experts to be.

One of the priority areas of the Chair's research work is 'Innovative Technologies for the Provision of the Human Food Security and Ecology'. The Chair's developments obtain all patents and certificates of registration of the results of intellectual activity (RIA); in particular, in the last three years, 7 patents were obtained, 16 monographs were published, including some abroad, about 160 articles were published – of which over 30 WOS/SCOPUS-indexed articles, 80 RSCI-indexed and Higher Attestation Commission-recommended ones.

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At the premises of the Chair, the research and practical conferences are held on a yearly basis, including the so-called 'Tserevitinov Readings' for the academic and teaching staff members, young scientists, students and postgraduates. The Chair teachers participate in sharing the experience to the extent of the cooperation with those Russian and international higher educational institutions being partners to both the Chair and RUE.

The Chair teachers participate in the activity of external organizations: as the experts of the Federal Agency on Technical Regulating and Metrology (ROSSTANDART), the ROSSTANDART Personnel Certification System Register, the Food Section of the Scientist Club of the RAS, the editorial staff of such journal as 'Foodstuffs Commodity Expert' (the Higher Attestation Committee/the Russian Science Citation Index), the central television programs to the University's image perfection.

In the 1930s, Prof. V. Smirnov established the Food Section at the Central Scientist Club of the AS of the USSR. For the decades, the Chair teachers has arranged the operation of the Food Section, which familiarizes the scientific community with the achievements of the higher educational institutions and research institutes in developing the issues of the day as for the technology enhancement and the foodstuffs quality improvement and security provision.

The faculty students take an active part in the research work, round table meetings, conferences and competitions for the performance of the funded work, the preparation of publications.

The international activity of the Chair includes the membership in the International Society of Commodity Science and the European Academy of Trade. Prof. A. Neverov is one of the founders of the International Society of Commodity Experts and the RUE-Test certification body created among the first in Russia.

The Chair upgrades the experts of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Central Forensic Customs Administration of the Federal Customs Service of Russia, the ROSSTANDART and also the teachers of higher educational institutions and colleges.

The following should be noted among other educational projects of the Chair:

- Training teachers and schoolchildren under such program as 'How to protect yourself from the defective and adulterated goods' (by Assistant Professor M. Polozhishnikova and others);

- The master class under the same program to the extent of such project as 'Silver Generation';

- The seminars and round tables for the medium and small business management on such theme as 'The ways of improvement of competitiveness of the goods of the industrial enterprises of Moscow';

- Training of the Moscow listeners of different social-age categories under such program as 'The University Saturdays. A Literal Consumer's School'

The Chair invites employers for the participation in the training process: holds seminars and round tables on a regular basis.

As referenced by the presidentship, the Chair teachers and staff members participate in the work of the commission for the incoming inspection of raw materials and food products receiving to the RUE Food Production Facility (Prof. M. Yeliseyev, Assistant Professor Y. Belkin and others). The Chair teachers also work in the RUE purchasing commission as experts (Prof. T. Chalykh).