Source:  Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 8/19/10

Russia has given the go-ahead for a Sanderson Farms plant to resume exports of poultry to that country amid squabbles between Moscow and Washington over a new trade deal, according to Russian media reports.

Russia’s veterinary service, Rosselhoznadzor, will list Sanderson’s Collins, Miss., plant as eligible today, a U.S. government source confirmed to Meatingplace.

The 10 other U.S. poultry slaughter plants that have been approved include three OK Foods facilities, two Tyson Foods plants, two Koch Foods facilities (one eligible to ship as of Aug. 18) and one plant each for Mountaire Farms (eligible to ship as of Aug. 17), Pilgrim’s Pride and Perdue Farms.

The approval brings the number of eligible U.S. poultry processing plants to 11. Russia also has certified 60 U.S. cold storage facilities. But, according to a RIA Novosti report quoting Russia’s food safety agency, another 16 U.S. poultry establishments remain off the roster.

U.S. and Russian officials are currently in a dust-up over a new export agreement in June that ostensibly resumed trade following a Jan. 1 ban by Moscow on imports of poultry treated with chlorine. The latest snag arose when Russian officials asked to audit U.S. poultry plants, something that Washington says is not part of the agreement.

U.S. officials are demanding that Russia comply with the agreement.

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