Russia inspects US poultry companies

Russian and US sanitary officials will begin a joint inspection of 33 US companies that want to supply poultry to Russia, the Russian agricultural watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor has stated.

Moscow introduced new sanitary standards on January 1, banning the treatment of meat with chloride of a higher concentration than in drinking water, halting US imports which attributed to almost 80% of poultry imports to Russia.

Following the ban a long negotiating process between Russia and the United States began, resulting in Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and US President Barack Obama agreeing to lift the ban in June 2010.

Since then, Russia has permitted poultry supplies for 83 out of 87 US plants whose production processes met Russian requirements.

Rosselkhoznadzor said the Russian and US veterinary officials would carry out random inspections at 33 out of the 83 companies. The latest joint inspections at US poultry companies were carried out a year ago.