Russia and U.S. Reach Agreement on Poultry Exports

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced a trade agreement with Russia that ends a January 2010 ban on chlorine-treated poultry from the United States. In exchange for lifting the ban, USDA has pledged to post on its website information about “which disinfectants/pathogen reductions treatments are known to be approved by Russia for use on processing poultry and on food generally.” U.S. officials will also provide (i) “information . . . on the solutions that companies use on poultry shipped to Russia,” and (ii) “an updated list of poultry processing facilities authorized to ship poultry to Russia.”

The accord came after 25 senators reportedly urged President Barack Obama (D) to take up the issue with Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. “I am pleased that after several months of negotiations, we have finally reached a breakthrough which will allow for U.S. poultry exports to resume to this important market,” stated U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, who estimated that in 2009, poultry exports to Russia reached $767 million. See Meatingplace.com, June 22, 2010; USDA News Release, June 24, 2010.