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Russia bans sale of frozen poultry meat

03 November 2010 14:10 (UTC +04:00)

Baku - APA-Economics. Major meat importer Russia will ban sales and processing of deep-frozen poultry meat from Jan. 1 both domestic and imported, the head of the consumer protection watchdog Rospotrebnadzor told Reuters on Wednesday.

"This decision (to impose the ban) was taken in March 2008 after consultations with businesses, scientists and processors," Gennady Onishchenko said.

"The decision has been registered with the Ministry of Justice."

He said deep freezing and defrosting chicken meat before consumption means the quality deteriorates drastically.

Earlier Interfax news agency said that Onishchenko had warned Russia’s partners within a customs union -- Belarus and Kazakhstan -- about the setting of the ban.

Onischenko did not explain how Russia, which had invested millions of dollars into domestic poultry breeding, intended to supply meat to distant regions, where there is no developed poultry industry, or how it would store fresh unsold meat.

Russia, which is a major market for poultry meat from the United States, Brazil and the European Union, has said it plans to stop importing it within three years.

Russia’s poultry meat imports declined 73.5 percent in volume terms to 169,800 tonnes in the first seven months of this year. Their value fell 51 percent to $248.4 million.

Russia banned imports from top supplier the United States from January, but shipments have recently restarted.