August 30, 2010

Russia lifts ban on more US poultry plants

Russia's Rosselkhoznadzor has approved four more US facilities for poultry export to Russia, leaving a ban in place for just five plants, the sanitary watchdog stated on Friday (Aug 27).

On August 16, Russia lifted a ban on poultry imports from 68 US plants whose production processes met Russian requirements. The US side complained that 60 were merely cold-storage facilities and 19 of 27 processing plants were still barred from exports. After Thursday's move, 22 of 27 processing plants are approved for exports to Russia.

Earlier this week, Russia expressed fears that poultry exported to the country from the US may contain salmonella after some 550 million eggs were recalled in the US that were distributed in 14 different states.

Russia asked the American Food and Drug Administration to submit a list of the farms that announced product recalls.

The US Poultry and Egg Council (USAPEEC) assured that all poultry meat products exported to Russia contain no salmonella bacteria.

US poultry accounted for almost 80% of poultry imports to Russia. The US import quota amounts to 600,000 tonnes in 2010.