Russia imposed a ban on importing pork and poultry from 10 American meat plants with effect from February 10, 2009, blaming major violations of Russian veterinary legislation, according to news agency Interfax.
Russia's state veterinary and agricultural watchdog, Rosselkhoznadzor, also banned imports of pork from seven Canadian enterprises and one Belarusian plant from February 6, 2009, after finding banned and harmful substances in imported products.
Rosselkhoznadzor reportedly said that its territorial directorates were collecting product samples for laboratory inspection from every meat shipment to Russia.
