13 Jul 2018 17:23

Russian watchdog bans several Russian enterprises from supplying food to EAEU

MOSCOW. July 13 (Interfax) - The Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) has detected violations in the products of several Russian enterprises, some of them belonging to the Miratorg and Cherkizovo meat groups.

The watchdog's press office said its laboratories had found "major inconsistencies between animal-based products produced by Russian enterprises and Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU) veterinary and sanitary requirements." It has imposed temporary restrictions on products supplies to the EAEU by four enterprises and placed another 18 under heightened laboratory control.

The four subject to bans are Barnaul Dairy Plant, for recurring discovery of yeast and fungus in tvorog (quark), and vegetable oils and fats in kefir; CJSC Prioskolye from the Belgorod region for recurring discovery of listeria in ready-to-cook poultry products and remnants of banned and harmful substances; C-Product LLC from St. Petersburg for recurring discovery of nitrofurans in honey; and Karat processed cheese factory in Moscow for recurring discovery of vegetable oils and fats in ingredients.

Enhanced laboratory control was introduced for products from the Cherkizovo Group's Vasilyevskaya Poultry Factory Farm in the Penza region for the discovery of quinolones in meat; the Korocha Miratorg pork complex in the Belgorod region, where DNA ingredients not detected by the manufacturer were discovered; White Bird Belgorod LLC, for the discovery of pathogenic microorganisms, including salmonella, in ready poultry products; JSC Komsomolskaya Poultry factory farm from the Perm territory, where remnants of banned and dangerous substances were found in eggs; and Cherkizovo's Dankov Branch, where listeria was discovered in pork offal.

Also subject to this measure are products from LLC White Bird Kursk, Kursk Meat Processing Plant, LLC Miratorg-Zapad, Ostankino Meat Processing Plant and several others. The full list of enterprises was posted on Rosselkhoznadzor's website.

Rosselkhoznadzor has written to regional veterinary agencies and pointed out the need to take action against the offending enterprises. "In the event Rosselkhoznadzor's recommendations are ignored and of a refusal to carry out the relevant measures, the service will have no alternative other than to submit information to the Prosecutor General's Office about the ineffectiveness of individual regional veterinary services where the safety of animal products is concerned," it said.