27.07.2010

The Department of Agriculture has given the green light to U.S. chicken exporters to resume shipments to Russia after nearly a seven month ban by what was once the largest foreign market for U.S. chicken.

The USDA also has released a list of 27 U.S. processing and storage facilities that are now eligible to begin making those shipments to Russia, although many more U.S. plants are expected to soon become eligible.

The Russian ban originated from the country's decision not to allow imports of any chicken processed with chlorinated rinses, a sanitization method used by all major U.S. processors at the time. The new export certificates will attest that U.S. chicken shipments have been sanitized by one of three methods approved by Russia.