Source:  Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 8/27/10

USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service attempted Thursday to calm Russia’s nerves over imports of U.S. poultry imports amid a massive egg recall related to chicken feed contaminated with salmonella.

FAS’s Moscow office delivered a letter to Russia providing information from the Food and Drug Administration on the recall, which involves some 550 million eggs and is linked to nearly 1,500 cases of salmonella poisoning.

“[The letter] included assurances that U.S. broiler production is not involved in the recall,” FAS spokeswoman Katie Gorscak told Meatingplace in an e-mail.

Gorscak didn’t indicate whether that information included FDA’s findings, disclosed in a teleconference with journalists, that investigators detected salmonella in chicken feed at the two Iowa farms, Wright County Egg and Hillandale Farms, involved in the recall.

FDA’s Sherri McGarry said the tests suggest that contaminated feed is a source of the outbreak, but there may also be other sources, according to media reports.

The recall unfolds as Russia continues its stop-and-start process of approving U.S. poultry establishments as eligible exporters. Russian media reports said authorities were set to expand the roster by week’s end, but they weren’t happy with what they called a slow response from USDA not only on the egg recall but also their concerns about Tyson’s recent recall of 380,000 pounds of deli products.

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