Russia considers EU chilled meat ban
The ban will be imposed from 29 March and representatives of the Russian veterinary watchdog Rosselhoznadzor warned it might soon be extended to all EU countries.
“In general, the EU whole system [of pre-export control] does not suit us. Therefore, in the near future, we could impose a similar ban on the import of chilled meat from the whole territory of the EU,” said Alexei Alekseenko the spokesperson of Rosselkhoznadzor, adding that a decision on these issues would be made in the near future.
Alekseenko’s words have been confirmed by the head of the service, Sergei Dankvert. “The main problem is that products sent to Russia are checked according to the rules of the EU and not the Customs Union, as is required by international trade practices. This means that the security guarantees given by veterinary services in these countries are not justified,” he pointed out at the recent press-conference in Moscow.
Experts at Russia’s Ministry of Agriculture have said that there is absolutely no difference between veterinary controls in Spain, the Netherlands and other EU countries. Thus, if the ban on imports from these two countries actually takes effect, then it could be extended to all chilled meat products from Europe as early as April.
Dankvert said that such ban is currently “under consideration”. Rosselkhoznadzor plans to hold talks with the veterinary services of the EU, on the basis of which it will be decided whether or not to allow EU countries to continue to import meat to Russia.
“Rosselkhoznadzor continues to insist that Spain, the Netherlands and other EU countries should introduce self-restraint on the supply of meat products to Russia, or simply cut the lists of suppliers. Otherwise we will be forced to only allow businesses that have passed inspections by our experts on the approved lists,” he added.
According to statistics, only around a dozen businesses in the EU have passed official inspections by Rosselkhoznadzor.
