December 19, 2012

Russia will impose restrictions on US pork containing the feed additive, ractopamine.

Russian officials vow that US pork imports found to contain ractopamine will be at risk of destruction or re-export because it violates Custom Union (Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan) regulations.

According to the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC), the USDA does not have a testing and certification programme in place to detect ractopamine residues in pork or beef.

NPPC is reporting that Agriculture Secretary, Tom Vilsack, has said the US will not accept Russia's demand that the US certify pork and beef shipments as free of ractopamine.

Ractopamine is commonly used in hogs as a feed additive in late finishing to boost feed efficiency, growth rate and lean carcass percentage.

Earlier this year, the United Nation's Codex Alimentarius, which sets international standards for food safety, approved a maximum residue limit (MRL) for ractopamine, which US pork adheres to.

Currently, only 41% of US pork plants are eligible to export to Russia due to the imposition of non-science-based trade barriers, such as zero tolerance on pathogens in raw products, an unachievable standard for any country in the world, NPPC says.

In October, Russia posted its large total of US pork exports since May 2010, according to the US Meat Export Federation, with 29,211 tonnes valued at US$38.9 million. That pushed the January-October results to 190,445 tonnes - up 30% over the same period last year - valued at US$247.6 million, up 20%.