Canadian pork and beef shipments to Russia hold steady

Wednesday, February 6, 2013

by SUSAN MANN

Canada’s pork and beef shipments to Russia are holding steady after the Russians announced temporary trade restrictions on American pork, beef and turkey.

Rosselkhoznadzor, the Russian federal service for veterinary and phytosanitary surveillance, had announced a ban on all pork, beef and turkey products because they contain the feed additive ractopamine.

The service has warned Canadian beef and pork exporters that they could face similar restrictions.

Rosselkhoznadzor announced the trade restrictions effective Feb. 11 against American turkey, beef and pork in two separate news releases posted on its website.

One, issued Jan. 30, bans American raw pork and beef and finished products. It announced the ban on American turkey meat and finished products in a Feb. 5 release.

Canada exported 180,000 tonnes of frozen pork to Russia during the first 10 months of 2012. It doesn’t export any chilled pork because it doesn’t yet have permission from the Russians to do that.

During the first 11 months of 2012, Canada exported 6,254 tonnes of mostly frozen and some chilled beef worth $15.5 million to Russia.  

Suzi Beck, Canadian Food Inspection Agency spokesperson, says by email Canada continues to export beef and pork products that meet the Russian requirements. Russian authorities informed CFIA that as of Dec. 7, 2012 each pork and beef shipment destined for Russia must have additional certification along with the usual export certificate. The additional documentation accompanying each shipment has to be endorsed by a CFIA veterinarian certifying that the shipment was tested in an accredited laboratory for ractopamine residues and the result was negative, or that the product in the shipment was produced from animals not fed ractopamine.

Canadian plants are responsible for having their products tested and including that the result was negative.

The feed additive is approved for use in Canada, the United States and 40 other countries around the world but is prohibited in Russia, the European Union and others. It’s used to promote leanness in animals raised for meat. The international food safety and quality standards setting organization, Codex Alimentarius, has set maximum residue levels for the product.

Beck says CFIA continues to support the pork industry as it develops a protocol so it can comply with Russian requirements on ractopamine.

Despite repeated requests, the Americans have given no guarantees ractopamine isn’t in their products destined for the Russian market, Rozzelkhoznadzor says in the Jan. 30 release. The agency says the American failure to comply with its requirement has led to additional costs for the Russians to dispose, recycle or re-export products containing ractopamine. They didn’t say how much those costs were. BF