June 2, 2008

Russia to tone down on frozen meat ban
   

Russian consumer rights agency Rospotrebnadzor has decided to postpone the ban on frozen meat processing to 2010 and to apply it only on frozen poultry, according to Kommersant business daily on Friday (May 30, 2008).

The newspaper quoted a letter of Rospotrebnadzor's head Gennady Onishchenko to finance minister Alexei Kudrin. In the letter, the agency proposed banning the processing of frozen meat into baby food from 2010 and into other meat products from 2011.

The agency had said early in the month that it wanted to ban frozen meat processing into sausages, hams, dumplings and other products. It also said the proposal was sent to the Justice Ministry for endorsement.

However, a Rospotrebnadzor spokeswoman denied knowledge of the letter and said the proposal is currently still under consideration.

Russian meat groups said the ban would reduce imports and hurt domestic producers.

Russia imports about 30 percent of the beef and pork it consumes and 40 percent of its poultry meat, all of which comes in frozen form.