Flies do not sit on American chicken, Ukrainians maintain
A ban on the import of poultry meat from the United States imposed by Ukraine on January 1, 2002 was on the agenda of bilateral talks held last week in Kyiv. The visit by American veterinary experts was brief, and it is not surprising that no concrete agreements were reached after two days of talks. The Ukrainians have again reiterated that their major requirements for resuming supplies of chicken include a ban on the use of antibiotics in fodder to accelerate chicken growth and anti-microbe food preservatives. These requirements are based on Ukrainian legislation prohibiting the use of hormones, antibiotics, and other substances acting on the endocrine gland in cattle and poultry. Whether the Americans will accept our demands remains to be seen: according to Director of the State Department for Veterinary Medicine Petro Verbytsky, they gave no clear answer during the talks.
Meanwhile, this is not the only bone of contention between the veterinary experts of both countries. “The issue of genetically modified fodder has not been discussed in the talks. Americans feed their poultry on transgenetic additives mixed with soy and corn,” Petro Verbytsky said. Another problem is control over poultry meat. While in Ukraine the term consignment covers products made by a single enterprise during one day (30 to 40 tons in terms of a single battery farm), in the United States it implies all goods delivered for shipment at any time from as many as 200 or 300 enterprises. Shelf life deadlines for frozen meat are also different, 14 months in Ukraine and two years in the USA.
A US Embassy in Ukraine press service representative, commenting on the results of the talks, told The Day, “We are disappointed by the fact that Chief Veterinary Doctor of Ukraine Verbytsky has not lifted the ban on chicken meat imports. But we expect that a decision agreeing both with the rules of international trade and Ukrainian food safety standards will be found. We consider the standards used for evaluating food safety in the United States as complying with the Ukrainian ones. In our opinion, our health and food safety standards are among the most rigid in the world. Unfortunately, veterinary service in Ukraine has not submitted its scientifically based claims against chicken meat production in the USA. We believe that efforts to find an acceptable agreement must be continued, especially in the context of the overall support given by the United States to Ukraine’s accession to the WTO while a scientifically unjustified ban on the import of chicken meat could jeopardize this issue.” The press service representative found it difficult to specify the date for the next meeting of American and Ukrainian experts.
Similar talks on poultry meat are underway in Russia, with the same concern that import restrictions might make Russia’s joining the WTO more difficult. Dr. Verbytsky does not rule out that Russia may eventually lift its ban since chicken meat safety standards there are softer than in Ukraine. Another argument for such an outcome is that the United States is much more interested in the Russian market, with the annual import volume of one million tons against a mere 70,000 tons exported to Ukraine. If the Russian ban stays, it could cost US exporters $50 million a month in lost revenues. Last year Russian farmers produced 564,000 tons of chicken meat, the BBC Russian Service reports. Consequently, experts predict that prices there will rise 15 to 20%, if the ban continues.
The situation in Ukraine is absolutely different, and, according to Ministry for Agrarian Policy experts, we are not threatened with any chicken shortage, with local farms stepping up production dynamically from 27,000 tons in 2000 to 67,000 tons in 2001 and a target of 120,000 tons in 2002. That is why there are no reasons for any chicken price hike now, Director of the Department for Cattle and Poultry Markets at the Ministry for Agricultural Policy Yury Melnyk says. Despite the ban, however, no one could guarantee that the ill-fated US fowl will not find their way to Ukraine. Not through official channels, Mr. Verbytsky argues, as Ukraine bans the re-export of chicken meat, and any new deliveries are preceded by checks of local producers. But there are also illegal channels via third countries, with multiple cases of contraband chicken meat from such neighboring countries as Russia, Moldova, and Poland already reported.
