MOSCOW -U.S. poultry producers must change their technology if they want to be allowed to supply poultry to Russia, Russia's chief vet Gennady Onishchenko said Monday, the agriculture ministry reported.
"We are not banning anybody from poultry supply to Russia; change your technology and supply away. We pay the money and we have the right to insist on our conditions," Onishchenko said.
Onishchenko previously issued an order stipulating that poultry meat should be free from chlorine and that water content shouldn't exceed 4-5%, which gave rise to accusations from the U.S. that Russia was breaking World Trade Organization regulations.
"Russia is not a WTO member. My decision to set limits for chlorine and water content caused fury in the United States," Onishchenko said Monday. "But the kind of technology they use is used only by our most backward producers, while in the States it is considered the most advanced."
Russia imports about 1.2 million metric tons of poultry a year, 870,000 tons of which comes from the U.S.