Russia has meat import bans on 28 Australian meatworks

Russia has banned imports from 28 Australian meatworks on minor food safety grounds, which are also being used to prevent imports from other meat exporting countries, Australia's Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry reported Friday.

 

"The Russians believe there are minor technical issues with microbial and chemical residue levels," according to a statement prepared for Dow Jones Newswires by the department, which declined to disclose the ownership of individual slaughterhouses, citing commercial-in-confidence issues.

 

Some of the temporarily suspended Australian abattoirs process kangaroo, others process beef, sheep and pork, it said.

 

"It's important to note the majority of meat exports from Australia to the Russian Federation continue unaffected," the department reported.

 

Interfax reported July 15 that Russia will ban meat imports from a number of enterprises in Australia effective July 10 and imports of all kangaroo meat from August 1 due to violations of food safety standards.

 

The ban applies to pork and pork products from three Australian enterprises and beef, pork and "the meat of small, horned livestock" from one enterprise, Interfax reported.

 

As for the ban on imports of kangaroo meat, food safety violations in those shipments have become systemic in nature recently, said Alexei Alekseenko, spokesman for the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance or Rosselkhoznadzor. At least one shipment was found to contain E.coli bacteria, it reported.

 

A spokeswoman for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry said the government is working closely with industry to address the concerns of Russian authorities, while Australian government representatives have met Russian government officials in various forums to discuss how to increase Russia's confidence in Australian meat.

 

"We are seeking another meeting in Moscow for our officials to work through precisely what we need to do to regain market access," the department reported. "Other meat exporting countries are also facing issues in meeting Russian import requirements. We continue to have a high level of confidence that all Australian standards are being met."

 

Russian is an important importer of Australian beef, sheepmeat and game. Early in 2008, Russia became the third largest importer of Australian beef after supply of meat from South America and European was disrupted.

 

Australian beef exports to Russia fell sharply later in 2008 under the impact of the global financial crisis on the trade and Russian trade financing.

 

Russia's ambassador to Australia, Alexander Blokhin, said the Australian government was told of the problems last year but hasn't yet resolved the issue and that some meat isn't up to standard.

 

"The federal agency of the Russian Federation for Sanitary Control had a number of issues dealing with the quality of kangaroo and other kinds of Australian meat imported to Russia," Blokhin said in an interview on Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio Wednesday.

 

But a separate departmental spokesperson said the Australian government continues to ensure all meat exports are produced hygienically and comply with Australian standards and importing country requirements.

 

Kangaroo meat and meat products are produced in accordance with the Australian Standard for Hygienic Production of Game Meat for Human Consumption, which is consistent with the Codex Alimentarius Commission's Code of Hygienic Practice for Meat, the spokesman said in a statement.

 

Australian meat exports to Russia in 2008-09 of 58,092 tonnes, almost two-thirds of which was beef, accounted for four percent of total Australian meat exports.

 

This compared with exports to Russia in the previous fiscal year ended June 30, 2008, of 45,764 tonnes, which accounted for three percent of total Australian meat exports.