The State Veterinary Service of Ukraine has reported that the system of control over the retail sale of meat in Russia poses a threat to Ukraine's epizootic welfare.
The State Veterinary Service announced this in a statement after a meeting between its head, Ivan Bisiuk, and Deputy Head of the Russian Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance (Rosselkhoznadzor) Yevgeny Nepoklonov.
"According to Ukrainian experts, such a situation creates conditions for the further spread of the disease across Russian territory, while posing a threat to the epizootic welfare of neighboring countries," reads the statement.
In particular, Ukrainian veterinarians are especially concerned about the absence in Russia of a unified system of control over the turnover of food, which includes control over safety during pre-sale storage, control over the conditions for sale by trade networks, as well as control over food waste recycling.
In addition, Bisiuk noted that his agency, which is currently being reorganized, would provide effective controls throughout the production and processing chain - from the fields to final consumers. He also proposed that Nepoklonov send a group of Russian experts to Ukraine to examine the peculiarities of the work of the updated State Veterinary Service.
As reported, on January 8, 2012, Russia's chief sanitary doctor Gennady Onishchenko said that Russia could restrict imports of agricultural products from Ukraine.
He said that the Ukrainian authorities intended to transfer the functions of control over food and nutrition to the veterinary service.
Ukrainian Prime Minister Mykola Azarov denied statements by the Russian side and said that Russians "still need to take a lot of efforts" to produce cheese of such high quality as in Ukraine.