MOSCOW, July 30 (Reuters) - Russia will stop checking flights from Europe for traces of the deadly E.coli bacteria as the number of new infections falls, the RIA news agency reported on Saturday.
"We will abolish checks of flights next week," Gennady Onishenko, head of the consumer protection agency, told RIA.
Russia banned imports of raw vegetables from the European Union on June 2 due to a deadly E.coli outbreak. In 2010, the EU exported about 600 million euros ($850 million) worth of vegetables to Russia.
Onishenko said Russian authorities have checked 522,000 airplane passengers and 83,500 crew members for the E.coli strain since the ban was imposed.
Russia has already allowed Poland, Belgium, Spain, Denmark, Greece, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria to resume vegetable exports to Russia based on safety certificates.
