November 16, 2010

Russia to set only partial ban on frozen poultry

Major meat importer Russia will impose only a partial ban on deep frozen poultry rather than a total one, Russian media reported over the weekend.

Head of consumer protection watchdog Rospotrebnadzor, Gennady Onishchenko, said that frozen meat would not be used to produce baby food, diet foodstuffs, and delicacies.

Earlier this month, Onishchenko said that Russia will ban sales and processing of deep-frozen poultry meat from January 1, for both domestic and imported meat.

Russian media suggested that Onishchenko had changed his mind following talks with meat suppliers from the EU, which took place in Moscow last week.

Russia, which is a major market for poultry meat from the US, Brazil, and the EU, has said that it plans to stop importing it within three years. Russia's poultry meat imports declined 73.5% in volume to 169,800 tonnes in the first seven months of this year. Their value fell 51% to US$248.4 million.

The country had banned imports from top supplier, the US, earlier in January, but shipments have recently restarted.