Russia’s ban on beef byproducts from the
European Union countries starts Wednesday, but imports from Mongolia,
Argentina, Brazil, China, Iran and Zimbabwe are already on the increase.
And McDonald’s is in trouble. It has already
banned beef from Canada, the United States, Europe and other western countries
critical of Russia’s intrusions into the Ukraine.
Courts have already closed nine of its outlets,
including its largest one in Moscow, and now about 200 are undergoing food
safety and financial inspections. That’s about half of McDonald’s outlets in
Russia.
The Russian agricultural organization Rosselkhoznadzor
told Interfax that the ban on most Western meat
is expanding to beef byproducts from Europe following the discovery of large
amounts of hazardous substances and hormones in the beef byproducts.
Russia recently blocked an attempt to bring
7,500 metric tons of pork through Germany, Lithuania and three other former
member-states of the Soviet Union.
Meanwhile, Mongolia is vowing to send 10 times
more beef to Russia annually after a visit from Russian President Vladimir
Putin visited there in September.
Mongolia currently exports 11,000 tonnes of
beef per year to Russia and to soon increase that to about 110,000 tonnes.
Rabobank predicts the bans will have little
impact on global beef supplies which are tight.
