July 23, 2010

 

Russia gives go signal for US poultry shipments

After a six month ban, US poultry producers have been given the green light from federal officials to resume poultry exports to Russia.

 

Poultry firms were notified about the development last Friday (July 16) with industry groups and government officials including Chief Agriculture Negotiator Islam Siddiqui and USDA Under Secretary for Farm and Foreign Agricultural Services Jim Miller, Beth Krushinskie, director of quality assurance and food safety for Millsboro, Delaware-based Mountaire Farms. However, conversion to antimicrobial treatments that are acceptable to the country may still take some time.

 

Carol Guthrie, spokeswoman for the US Trade Representative's Office, said that USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) will post a list of establishments approved for export on Friday (July 23).

 

The Russian ban on American poultry has been lifted after a meeting between presidents Barack Obama and Dmitry Medvedev in late June, but details of the export agreement were not finalised until late last week. The dispute began in mid-January, which has been a major concern for the poultry industry, as Russia is the largest importer of US poultry products. US poultry was declared unsafe by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin for the use of chlorine as an antimicrobial treatment. 

 

"We haven't seen any readiness to meet Russian standards on the part of some of our partners, mainly the companies from the US. If our foreign suppliers are unable or reluctant to meet our security requirements, we will use other sources," Putin said in January.

 

According to the American Meat Institute, the agreement between the countries listed three acceptable, alternative pathogen reduction treatments: cetylpyridinium chloride, hydrogen peroxidem and peroxyacetic acid. While some processors may be ready to comply with the new processing requirements, other firms may take weeks to be ready to carry on export.