Russia does not want our Young Chicks ???

[Dolphin]

By Whitney McFerron

April 3 (Bloomberg) -- Russia is halting poultry shipments from Kentucky, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today. The agency didn’t provide a reason for the ban.

Meat from poultry raised or processed in Kentucky won’t be accepted by Russia after today, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service said on its Web site. Kentucky ranked 11th in the U.S. for young-chicken slaughter in 2008, according to USDA data. Russia is the largest importer of U.S. chicken meat.

Amanda Eamich, a USDA spokeswoman, did not immediately return phone calls for comment.

Kentucky producers slaughtered 295.3 million young chickens in 2008, down 0.5 percent from the previous year, the USDA said on Feb. 25.

Russia has stopped poultry shipments from six U.S. poultry plants and nine pork factories this year.

Russia suspended imports from three poultry facilities last month, including plants owned by Tyson Foods Inc. and Sanderson Farms Inc., after reporting drug residue in shipments, Eamich said on March 20. The factories are in Georgia, Louisiana and Mississippi.

Russian First Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov announced today that the country will become self-sufficient in poultry and pork production by 2011. Russia may boost poultry output by 386,000 metric tons this year, according to a statement on the government’s Web site.

Russia imported 1.815 billion pounds of U.S. chicken meat in 2008, down 3.8 percent from the previous year, USDA data showed. January imports of the meat jumped 20 percent to 144.3 million pounds from a year earlier.

To contact the reporter on this story: Whitney McFerron in Chicago at [email protected].
Last Updated: April 3, 2009 16:52 EDT

[DMS]

They talk about being self-sufficient by 2011 but continue to buy our chickens. The last box of frog legs we cooked was "made in China". Even the crawdads at Wal-mart are "hencho en China". They'll still import...we do.