Russia to suspend Chilean imports
According to an article earlier this month, “Russian wants Chilean seafood” (04.06.07), market conditions showed that Russian consumers cannot get enough of Chile’s fishery and aquaculture products. Russian authorities however are putting the brakes on the rampant pace of seafood imports. From May 28 to June 6 the Rosseljoznadzor (Federal Service of Veterinary and Phytosanitary Control of the Russian Federation) paid a visit to Chile that had been scheduled since 2005. The objective of the visit was to meet the suppliers of fishery products imported to Russia, and to understand the system of sanitary certification and control in Chile, to see how it matches with Russian regulations. Sernapesca, Chile’s national fisheries service received two counts of “Murphy’s Law” while attending to their Russian visitors, a “situation that lends to confusion”, according to the Chilean authority. The first count was the confirmation that public documentation was falsified for at least one shipment to Russia last year; and the second was that during the 10-day visit staphylococcus was detected in a shipment of 5 tons. Sernapesca is not allowed to inform of the names of the companies involved in these infractions. According to Ecoceanos.cl, Chile, as well as five other countries is under scrutiny by the Russian authorities (other countries to be affected by import suspensions are Japan, Uruguay, Argentina, South Korea and China). As of July 1, Chilean seafood products will be held at Russian border if they originate from a plant not officially approved by Rosseljoznadzor. Sernapesca is currently waiting for the inspection report that should define which plants passed the Russian inspection.
