Source:  Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 6/14/10

U.S. exporters will have to jump through another hoop in order to ship prepared beef and poultry products to Russia.

Under a new requirement, U.S. companies must be identified on an approved plant list before they can export those products to Russia. And, as required under the existing certification process, those facilities also must ensure they use raw meat only from slaughter plants approved to export to Russia.

"Although there is no official ban on the exportation of prepared meat products (namely beef and poultry) to Russia, Russia maintains certain requirements that are difficult to meet," Katie Gorscak, a spokeswoman for USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service, told Meatingplace in an e-mail.

The difficulty of Russia's latest requirement is not in identifying all companies on an approved establishment list. The difficulty for plants is in having to apply to FSIS to be placed on the eligible list, Gorscak said.

Russia continues to restrict U.S. prepared beef because the two governments have not been able to negotiate a new export certificate. Russia has insisted that the export certificate contain a statement that the United States is free from bovine spongiform encephalopathy, which FSIS veterinarians cannot attest. Meanwhile, all poultry, including prepared poultry, remains banned as a result of Russia's restrictions on the use of chlorine in processing.

"We continue to work with Russia to try to find a mutually acceptable outcome that will facilitate the resumption of prepared meat exports to Russia," Gorscak said.

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