February 5 2003, 09:38 Interfax-Ukraine

Ukraine banned imports of mutton from Russia and pork from Korea

To lower the risk of getting into Ukrainian market of dangerous for health kinds of meat, state customs committee has banned to import from Russia live sheep and goats and meat, produced from these animals, and to import pigs and pig meat from Korea.

Head of State Department of Veterinary Medicine Petro Verbytsky has informed that the main risk factor of getting contaminated meat into Ukraine's retail network is meat smuggles, as majority of people in the country buy meat from semi-controlled markets, kiosks and very often - from completely uncontrolled illegally established markets, where products are traded just from the earth.

He said the ban on imports of sheep and goats and their meat from Russia was connected with cases of smallpox, registered in these animals in Primorsky Krai (the Far East) of Russia. The ban to import pig meat from South Korea has been imposed because of cases of classical plague of pigs, occurring in this country.

Verbytsky said a complex of measures that had been recently introduced by his department would make practically impossible getting dangerous products to Ukrainian market (see also the item of January 31).

As for the ban on imports from the US of chicken meat, not corresponding to Ukrainian standards, Verbytsky said veterinary service was not about to change its decision. He said that some American enterprises, not using hormonal preparations in production of their meat, continued to supply the hams to Ukraine.

The veterinary service had banned to import from the US chicken hams, produced with the use of hormonal preparations and antibiotics.