MOSCOW - The number of outfits in the European Union that supply products of livestock farming to Russia could contract by from 40% to 50%, head of the Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary Oversight Service (Rosselkhoznadzor) Sergei Dankvert said.
"The number of suppliers will decrease by 40%-50%, we have to take this step because the violation of Russia’s requirements is not ceasing, this is about enterprises included among the number of suppliers under the guarantee of EU country veterinary services," Dankvert told Interfax.
Only enterprises inspected by Russian specialists, and outfits fulfilling special programs of exports to Russia, will remain on the supplier list, he said.
"Now we’ll be acting more firmly, and each violation will be taken as a signal to acknowledge the veterinary service of the country shipping product as disqualified," Dankvert said.
Among the most recent violations Dankvert identified the attempt to import from Lithuania (enterprise №5302) liver produced at a Polish enterprise lacking the right to export product to Russia. During the inspection of a consignment of pork liver, tongue, and heart arriving from Belgium (enterprise №718 EG), it was revealed that there were pigs feet in the heart packaging. "And when a consignment of meat from Bulgaria (enterprise №1901021) was opened, products with Spanish company labels were found," he said.
"These, so to speak, are ‘fresh examples,’ and we want our European colleagues to explain how control over these shipments was performed," Dankvert said. The identified violating enterprises will be stricken form the list of Russia’s suppliers, he said. "We have to shorten the list of suppliers, because keeping up with the massive number of violations is hard," he said.
Dankvert said that despite EU criticism of Russia’s ban on livestock from countries in Europe, Rosselkhoznadzor will stand firm on the necessity of it. "There is Schmallenberg virus in the EU, and the first thing needed is study of the disease, but there is no information from [our] European colleagues," he said.
Responding to arguments that the virus had not affected hogs, Dankvert said the ban on importing the animals was imposed as a precautionary measure that does not contradict the principles of the World Trade Organization and International Epizootic Bureau. "When scientifically based data [on livestock diseases] is insufficient, any country can adopt measures based on the information it has," he said. "If other information appears, those measures can be reconsidered," he said.
Russia banned livestock imports from the European Union on March 20 and imports of protein feeds on March 26.
