US producers have agreed to stop using chlorine in processing chicken products for exports to Russia, according to the Russian consumer protection watchdog, Rospotrebnadzor.

"We have been informed that US producers are switching to poultry meat production without using chlorine and that they want to restart exports to Russia as soon as possible," Gennady Onishchenko, head of Rospotrebnadzor said.

"We welcome the US willingness to comply with Russian standards," he said, adding imports could be restarted after Moscow gets an official confirmation of US producers consent to stop using chlorine.

Russia, the biggest export market for US poultry, banned supplies from January 19 after saying a chlorine wash used routinely in US processing plants was in violation of its food safety standards.