US policy prevents poultry exports to Russia

 

 

Washington's policy remains the only obstacle blocking the resumption of poultry exports to top buyer Russia, the head of Russia's consumer protection watchdog Rospotrebnadzor said on Tuesday (June 22).

 

Russia, US poultry's biggest export market, banned supplies from January 19, saying a chlorine wash used routinely in US processing plants was in violation of its food safety standards.

 

The US said its poultry is safe, but negotiations between the two countries have not brought it back to the Russian market so far. The EU has a similar ban on US poultry and Washington is trying to solve this dispute within the World Trade Organisation (WTO), in which Russia is not a member.

 

At the end of May, Russia's Chief Health Inspector Onishchenko agreed with US ambassador John Beyrle on a scheme which would permit the US to avoid waiving their own political issues.

 

Onishchenko said Russia insisted on importing poultry without the chlorine wash, a condition which the United States reportedly agreed to follow.

 

Last week, USDA secretary Tom Vilsack said that the department has planned to buy US$14 million worth of chicken meat to avoid a glut on the domestic market. The US shipped 733,000 tonnes of poultry meat to Russia worth US$752 million in 2009. The US quota for 2010 was set at 600,000 tonnes, but Russia has allowed other suppliers to use a quarter of it.