Source:  Tom Johnston, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 9/17/10

Russian sanitary authorities have suspended imports from two Smithfield Foods plants, according to USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service.

Media reports quote Russian officials as saying they found excessive amounts of antibiotics in product shipped from the company’s Tar Heel, N.C., and Clinton, N.C., plants.

Neil Gaffney, a spokesman for FSIS, confirmed there were "drug residue issues."

"Once FSIS receives additional information from Russia, FSIS will work with industry to investigate the findings," he told Meatingplace in an e-mail.

Russia will accept product from those plants that was loaded prior to Sept. 28, the date on which both have been deemed ineligible to export to that country.
 

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