U.S. Poultry Industry Assures Russia Over Egg Crisis

The USA Poultry and Egg Export Council has assured Russia that U.S. poultry is safe and will not be affected by a salmonella outbreak that has forced the recall of more than half a billion U.S. table eggs.

The USA Poultry and Egg Export Council has assured Russia that U.S. poultry is safe and will not be affected by a salmonella outbreak that has forced the recall of more than half a billion U.S. table eggs.

The head of Rospotrebnadzor, Russia's consumer watchdog agency, had said all U.S. poultry imports might be banned because of the current egg recall crisis.

"In light of reports in the U.S. media of an outbreak of [salmonellosis] caused by contaminated eggs, we are assessing the situation to find out if there is a need to toughen [regulations on] poultry imports from the United States," Gennady Onishchenko was quoted as saying by the state-owned RIA Novosti news agency.

But the U.S. industry responded quickly and in a statement to Russia USAPEEC President Jim Sumner said: "The poultrymeat and egg segments of the U.S. poultry industry are completely separate entities. The products never come in contact with each other and are produced at separate facilities remotely located from one another, which fully excludes any possibility of cross-contamination."

Russia recently began accepting U.S. poultry after banning the product for much of the past year because a chlorine disinfectant used in the United States violated its food safety policy.

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