April 20, 2009
Russia lifts ban from five US pork processing plants, suspends other three
Russia, a major importer of US pork, has lifted a ban from five US pork processing plants and suspended imports from another three, the Russian animal and plant health watchdog said on Friday (Apr 17).
Watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor said the ban on the plants imposed in February 10 was lifted from April 15 after safety guarantees were received from US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Food Safety and Inspection Service.
In January, USDA said that the ban had been imposed due to clerical errors although hog farmers suspected political reasons.
Russia aims to be self-sufficient in the production of pork and poultry meat by 2012.
However, Rosselkhoznadzor said it had imposed a temporary ban on two US cold storages and a slaughterhouse from April 20.
