Russia has reduced the number of Canadian meat-packing
plants from which it will accept products from 60 to 19.
And the Russians say they are coming to visit Canada’s
pork-packing plants to see how they are dealing with a Russian demand that they
slaughter only hogs that have never been fed ractopamine (Paylean).
Russia ranks third among Canadian pork export markets.
Martin
Charron, vice-president of Canadian Pork International, says officials from
both governments are in discussions about getting more plants approved to
export to Russia again.
Charron
says the list, which goes into effect on April 17, may be based on outdated
information. The marketing and promotion agency says Russian officials have not
inspected Canadian plants for at least two years.
``We have
establishments not on that list that are ractopamine-free,'' he said from
Ottawa.
``When the
Russians announced their intention to ban ractopamine in early December, many
of our members decided to implement procedures to basically remove ractopamine
from their production... The Russians basically looked at their file and
established a list based on that.''
Canada’s beef industry has taken a different
approach, simply saying Canadians abide by international standards for
ractopamine.
