May 19, 2008

 

Russian consumer body seeks ban on processing of frozen meat

 

 

Russia's consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor wants to ban the processing of frozen meat into products.

 

Rospotrebnadzor head Gennady Onishchenko has signed an order banning the use of frozen meat in meat products. It is currently being checked by the Justice Ministry, a Rospotrebnadzor spokeswoman said on Friday.

 

"The order will become effective if the ministry finds that it does not contradict the legislation and endorses it," she added without giving more details.

 

Meat industry officials say that the order, if it becomes law, might have a negative effect on imports.

 

Currently, some 15 percent of imported frozen poultry are processed and around half of imported beef and pork, Musheg Mamikonyan, president of the Russian Meat Union, one of the main industry lobbies, told Reuters.

 

Russia imports around 30 percent of its beef and pork and 40 percent of its poultry meat, practically all of which arrives in frozen form. Imports are restricted by tariff quotas.

 

Russia's main beef and pork suppliers are Europe and Latin America. The US is Russia's main poultry meat supplier.

 

There might be a transition period allowing processors to change their technology and exporters to rearrange their shipments and traders to sell their stocks, before the law is implemented, the spokeswoman said. 

 

Government officials in Russia have implemented various measures in the past year to boost local meat production to cut down its reliance on meat imports.

 

Still, despite their efforts, red meat imports rose 19.7 percent to 301,000 tonnes in the first quarter of this year on last year's volumes, while their value rose 25.3 percent to US$779 million.

 

The value of poultry imports similary rose by 17.8 percent to US$201.7 million.

 

Sergei Yushin, head of the National Meat Association said the order may not be implemented and could be revoked.

 

No country could switch overnight to processing fresh and refrigerated meat instead of frozen, taking into account its huge dimensions and distances for meat transportation, he added.

 

The implementation of the order could result in domestic meat processing plants cutting their output and imports of frozen meat products filling the gap, he said.

 

Currently, domestic producers could not supply enough of both frozen and fresh meat to fulfil market demand he added.