January 14, 2008

Russia and Brazil to sign new beef quality control guidelines

Officials from Russia and Brazil will sign a deal on January 17 to implement new procedures that will check on the quality of beef imported from Brazil to Russia.

Sergey Dankvert, head of the Russian federal food quality watchdog Rosselkoznadzor said Friday, that the deal means the veterinary service of Brazil will hold greater responsibility over its beef exports.

The responsibility of checking beef going to Russia will be fully passed on to Brazilian authorities.

Dankvert explained that once a poor quality meat is delivered in Russia, the supplier would immediately be taken from the list of authorized beef importers to the country.

Currently, about 60 percent of Russia's total beef imports of 600,000 metric tonnes come from Brazil.