Chlorine-treated chicken still banned, other treatment options established

By TIM HEARDEN
Capital Press

Announced with much fanfare, a U.S. poultry agreement with Russia should allow some chicken back into the market, which has been closed since January.

How much of the meat re-enters Russia remains to be seen, however.

Russia had banned importation of meat disinfected with chlorine, which is commonly used by U.S. chicken processors.

The deal unveiled June 24 by President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmetry Medvedev will enable meat treated with other agents to be shipped to that nation. Chlorine is still banned as a disinfectant.

While there's been little if any substantive change in policy in Russia, the pact will have the effect of spelling out exactly what American processors can and can't send, said Richard Lobb, spokesman for the National Chicken Council.

"These things are all governed by agreements between the governments involved," Lobb said. "It wasn't clear at all what if anything was permitted, so the agreement with Russia will lay out exactly what is permitted."

The USDA will post an online list of the disinfecting agents known to be approved by Russia for use in processing poultry, and the U.S. will give Russia a list of the solutions that companies use on poultry shipped there, according to the U.S. trade representative's office.

Russia uses three pathogen-reduction treatments in poultry processing -- cetylpyridinium chloride, hydrogen peroxide and peroxyacetic acid -- which are also approved for use in the United States, said Katie Gorscak, a spokeswoman in the USDA's foreign affairs office.

"The agreement establishes a process for informing Russia of the pathogen reduction treatments that have been used on each shipment of poultry to Russia," Gorscak said in an e-mail. U.S. poultry producers choose which treatments to use on product exported to Russia.

Lobb said many processors may use a product called Cecure, an anti-bacterial spray used in chicken processing that's authorized in the U.S. and accepted in Russia.

"What you would do is run a plant in what would be called Russia mode," Lobb said. "It's kind of a question of economics and how much product is being handled."

The council cheered the trade deal, believing it will at least partially reopen the Russian market. "How far that's going to go is a big question right now," Lobb said.

Negotiations between the two countries have been ongoing since January, when the Russian ban took effect. Farm groups have been fretting over the loss of sales to Russia, whose consumers bought more than $800 million worth of American poultry in 2008 and $767 million in 2009.

About two dozen U.S. senators urged Obama in a letter to raise the poultry issue in his meeting with Medvedev, arguing that internationally recognized science has proven U.S. poultry to be safe. California Sen. Barbara Boxer, a Democrat, was among those who signed the letter.

Online

U.S. Department of Agriculture: www.usda.gov

U.S. Trade Representative: www.ustr.gov

National Chicken Council: www.nationalchickencouncil.com