Russia’s fresh food safety authority intercepts European supplies through Belarus

RIA Novosti / Egor Eryomov

​Russia’s fresh food safety watchdog, Rosselkhoznadzor, said it has blocked supplies of some banned agricultural products which sanctioned countries like Poland and Greece tried to re-export through Belarus.

“Some EU countries
have started sending their products to Belarus without giving the
real country of their origin. They write, for example –
Macedonia, but we have found out that it is Poland and Greece, as
the Macedonian origin has not been confirmed,” ITAR-TASS
quotes Sergei Dankvert, the head of Rosselkhoznadzor.

In the last few days the watchdog has stopped batches of apples,
peaches, plums, and tomatoes being supplied via Belarus, that
didn’t name the country of origin or said they were produced in
Turkey, Serbia, Macedonia or African countries, in particular
Zimbabwe, which are not covered by Russia’s embargo.

As these supplies had no health check paperwork from the
countries of origin, they caused suspicions.

Rosselkhoznadzor conducted analysis which showed that fruit and
vegetables had been supplied from Poland, Slovenia, the
Netherlands, Lithuania and some other EU countries.

“We are actively monitoring the situation and will be
promptly checking the origin of questionable batches,”
Dankvert said.

In terms of sanctions the health certification for the transit of
European goods is Belarus’ responsibility, Dankvert explained.

“If we uncover quarantine items, we will be imposing
restrictions on supplies from Belarus,” he added.

Rosselkhoznadzor intends to monitor re-exports of dairy, meat and fish products via
Switzerland, Kazakhstan, and the Faroe
Islands.

“Concerning Switzerland there are no cases of violation, the
same applies to the Faroe Islands as there are few companies, and
it will become immediately clear. However Kazakhstan has already
transited goods which are in Moscow,” Dankvert said.

The issues concerning cooperation with Kazakhstan will be
discussed on Wednesday with the country’s authorities, he
concluded.

Article source: http://rt.com/business/181252-rosselhoznadzor-reexport-products-russia/