Russian ag watchdog sues Cherkizovo over safety violations

Russia’s agricultural watchdog, Rosselkhoznadzor, has filed a lawsuit against meat producer Cherkizovo over safety violations, but the company said it has found no evidence of violations, according to Reuters.

Photo by Andrea Gantz
Photo by Andrea Gantz

Russia’s agricultural watchdog, Rosselkhoznadzor, has filed a lawsuit against meat producer Cherkizovo Group over safety violations, but the company said it has found no evidence of violations, according to Reuters.

Rosselkhoznadzor said Salmonella and Listeria were found in products made by one of Cherkizovo’s poultry units. The watchdog asked a court to stop sales of the products and halt production at the facility for up to 90 days or require the company to pay RUB1 million (US$14,956).

However, Cherkizovo said it found no evidence of safety violations at the facility and said the presence of bacteria may be due to improper storage during transport or in stores.

“According to the information on the regulator’s website, the product samples were picked up in retail stores. Therefore, it’s necessary to take into account the transport conditions and storage temperatures at the stores,” Cherkizovo said in a statement. 

According to WATTAgNet’s World’s Top Companies database, Cherkizovo Group has 10 percent market share and closed 2016 as Russia’s second-largest broiler producer, behind Priskolye. The company operates eight poultry production facilities with total capacity of 580,000 metric tons of live weight. Cherkizovo Group is also Russia’s largest animal feed manufacturer. In 2016, the company’s revenue increased by 7 percent through increased production, particularly in the poultry and meat processing segments. The company produced 903,000 tons of meat products in 2016.

In September, Cherkizovo reported a 5.5 percent revenue increase for the second quarter, pushing the company’s total revenue to RUB23.6 billion (US$345 million). The same measure for the half-year was up 5.1 percent at RUB45.5 billion.

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