US poultry farmers hope for Russian trade resumption

Poultry farmers in US have been hoping that the Russian trade would resume since imposing ban in January over conflicts on the chlorine treatment of US poultry.

Russia, traditionally the biggest importer of US poultry, banned US chicken imports in January for food safety concerns regarding the chlorine treatment. Despite multiple trade talks and discussions on the possibility of opening the poultry market, which was worth US$800 million in 2008, trade has continued to cease.

Russia claims the chlorine cleaning treatment is unsafe, whereas Washington says it kills off foodborne pathogens, such as Salmonella and Campylobacter.

Earlier this month, a Russian consumer rights group claimed a study found eight of 10 Russian-sold chickens had bacteria on their skin, and one also had bacteria deep inside the muscles, which suggested the bird must have been ill when it was killed, according to an article in Prime Time Russia.

The worrying findings are supposedly connected with inadequate disinfecting procedures at the poultry factories which, in their turn, are due to a ban on using chlorine in disinfecting that came into force in January.

On Monday (June 21), Georgia Senators urged Obama to address the poultry ban during his meeting with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev during their G-8 summit in Canada.

''Russia) has long been a very important market for us. Losing that market has definitely had an impact on poultry companies in Georgia,'' says Mike Giles, president of the Georgia Poultry Federation to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.