November 13, 2010

Russian poultry ban results in shortage of meat

The meat industry association in Russia has warned of shortages following a government announcement that only chilled, not frozen poultry will be on sale from January.

RIA Novosti reports that Russia will only allow sale of chilled, and not frozen poultry from next January, Federal Service for Supervision of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Welfare head Gennady Onishchenko said.

"The transition to chilled poultry was approved in March 2008. There will be no turnover of frozen poultry in Russia from January 1, 2011. It is an outdated and rough technology, which leads to a loss of many of the useful qualities of meat," Onishchenko said.

"Everybody knew about it. This is not a new idea. This information was published long ago. All documents are registered in the Justice Ministry. This question was discussed with our producers, scientists, with Russian Academies of Medical and Agricultural Sciences,"  Onishchenko said.

"It is a corporate decision made on the basis of analysis. I have received loads of letters from governors who thank us and say that Russian producers can guarantee chilled poultry deliveries to consumers without deep freezing," he said.

He also said there are technologies of poultry chilling in inert gas, which permits storage of poultry for up to 120 days.

But Sergei Yushin, head of an executive committee at the National Meat Association, said that Onishchenko's statement was unbelievable, adding that a technology for chilling poultry in inert gas did not exist, while deep freezing helped producers and sellers store meat for a longer period.