January 27, 2004

Ukraine Seizes 19 Tons Of US Chicken Legs

Ukrainian customs officials confiscated nearly 19 tons of frozen U.S. chicken legs that smugglers claimed was sugar, officials said Monday.

Customs inspectors discovered about 945 boxes of chicken legs, valued at $16,800, late Friday in a truck in the southern region of Mykolaiv, the Customs Service said in a statement.

Officials detained the cargo because transport documents claimed it was was granulated sugar. There were no other details provided.

Last year, Ukraine banned U.S. chicken because the U.S. poultry industry widely uses antibiotics and chemicals to stimulate chicken growth, as well as disinfectants to preserve meat that are prohibited in Ukraine. U.S. officials insist such chicken is safe to eat.

U.S. chicken shipments certified to contain no growth stimulants, hormones or other banned additives resumed in December when Ukraine lifted the ban after 11 months, the U.S. embassy said.

Before the ban, U.S. producers supplied about 90% of Ukraine's chicken imports.