Onishchenko ready to personally inspect Ukrainian cheese makers
MOSCOW. March 23 (Interfax) - The director of the Russian consumer rights watchdog Rospotrebnadzor and Russia's chief epidemiologist, Gennady Onishchenko, has announced his readiness to travel to Ukraine to inspect local enterprises planning to export cheese to the Russian market.
"We are seriously considering such an option. I do not rule it out," Onishchenko told Interfax on Friday.
He told Interfax on March 20 that Rospotrebnadzor was going to start inspections of Ukrainian cheese makers on March 26.
Russia banned the import of cheese produced by a number of Ukrainian companies on February 7, citing non-compliance with Russian safety requirements for milk and dairy products.
"The sale of a total of 32 tonnes of cheese has been suspended on Russian territory," Onishchenko told Interfax in March.
Up to 120 tonnes of Ukrainian cheese more were seized on the border, he said.
Onishchenko told Interfax on February 27 that Ukraine had more than halved its cheese exports to Russia following Rospotrebnadzor's complaints about the quality of these products.
