Russia wants to inspect Norwegian chilled fish suppliers
MOSCOW. May 3 (Interfax) - Russian agriculture watchdog Rosselkhoznadzor wants as soon as possible to inspect Norwegian companies that produce and process salmon species of fish and have retained the right to deliver their products to the Customs Union.
Rosselkhoznadzor has asked the Norwegian state plant, fish, animal and food product surveillance service (Mattilsynet) to report the soonest dates for inspections and submit a draft program of visits from Customs Union specialists to Norway, the watchdog said.
Due to the repeated detection of products failing to meet safety requirements, Russia has imposed restrictions on imports of chilled fish from 13 Norwegian companies, starting on May 5.
Earlier, during inspections in February, Customs Union officials identified various systemic shortcomings in the work of the Norwegian veterinary service, regarding the provision of safe fish, especially for chilled fish. Rosselkhoznadzor told Mattilsynet about all the shortcomings found, but it has not obtained any information about any measures taken to eliminate these shortcomings.
In addition, Norway has not yet updated the list of fish processing companies whose products were found to have breached Customs Union veterinary and sanitary requirements.
