August 11, 2006

Russian delegation flies to US for pork industry audit

A delegation of experts from the Russian federal food quality watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor left for the US Wednesday (Aug 9) to begin an audit of pig farms and pork processing enterprises which export pork to Russia, the Russian agriculture ministry said Thursday.

Rosselkhoznadzor experts will visit a number of farms, plants and storage facilities in the US, as well as veterinary laboratories responsible for quality control of pork exported to Russia.

Russia's Economic Development and Trade Minister German Gref issued a statement Jul 17 saying despite requests by US officials that Russia issues veterinary certificates for immediate supply of US beef and pork, Russia insisted on carrying out an inspection of beef and pork freezing procedures, which would take three months.

"According to international rules, we have the right to carry out an audit of the beef and pork freezing methods in the US," Gref's statement said.

"Our US partners requested that we issue such certificates without a prior audit but we prefer to carry out the procedure which will take three months and will be completed before the end of October."

Gref said it was a matter of principle as it concerned people's health and a three months' delay was not critical.