Apparently, Russian authorities are not so concerned about the quality of Norwegian meat, but the fact that "in Norway today there are no agencies to deal with veterinary supervision of exported [meat] products", according to a report from the watchdog.
"Rosselkhoznadzor raised a number of serious questions with the Norwegian Food Safety Authority, Mattilsynet," explained Dankvert. In particular the Russian authorities were concerned that, following requests to test products from certain Norwegian businesses, they were simply sent reports from the businesses themselves, whose management have a conventional view of the standards and requirements of Russian and Customs Union food safety legislation.
"[Mattilsynet] said that monitoring businesses’ compliance with Russian veterinary and sanitary requirements is beyond its authority," added Dankvert, noting that, according to Norway’s Chief Veterinary Officer, the onus to implement veterinary requirements for exported meat products from Norway lies with the producers themselves. Rosselkhoznadzor considers this inadmissible, he said.
According to Rosselkhoznadzor press secretary Alexei Alexeenko, if the situation does not change soon, the watchdog may impose a ban on imports of meat and meat products from Norway. However, local experts believe that, if such a ban were introduced, it would not have a severe impact on the meat markets of the two countries.
"Norway is not a major importer of meat to Russia. In 2013, according to preliminary data, the volume of imports was NOK210,000. The only sector that will be really hurt is premium venison, as Norway accounts for the largest share of foreign supplies [of this product] to Russia. Premium venison is delivered to restaurants in Moscow and other major Russian cities, and it will be hard for importers to find alternative suppliers of this type of meat," noted Russia’s National Meat Union.