Turkish poultry plants cleared to export to Russia

Three poultry plants from Turkey have been granted access to ship poultry into Russia, according to a report from Rosselkhoznadzor, the Russian federal service for veterinary and phytosanitary surveillance.

After Rosselkhoznadzor experts made numerous visits to Turkish plants in 2014 and meetings with Irfan Erol, the director general of the Directorate General for Food and Control of Turkey, Rosselkhoznadzor found the three plants to be in compliance with Russian and Customs Union requirements to gain access to the Russian market.

Russia, which has bans on poultry and other agricultural products from other markets including the U.S., Canada, Australia, Norway and the European Union, had been looking to open poultry trade with Turkey.

The talks also included possibilities for Russia to export some of its agricultural products to Turkey. Sergey Dankvert, head of Rosselkhoznadzor, focused on the interest of Russian producers to export poultry, beef, mutton, ready-to-eat meat and poultry products and grain products to Turkey.

The two sides achieved an agreement to continue the constructive dialogue to find a solution to the export and import of animal products between the two countries. In particular, the countries planned that Rosselkhoznadzor experts would carry out inspections at Turkish plants in 2015.