WASHINGTON – After meetings Thursday between President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Russia has agreed to lift the ban on U.S. chicken. The ban had been in effect since January when Russia, which spent $800 million on U.S. poultry in 2008, claimed that the U.S. practice of treating the chicken with chlorine to kill pathogenic bacteria violated its food safety rules.
Producers argued that the rinse was safe but January talks between Russia and U.S. experts ended without Russia’s commitment to reopen the largest U.S. export market.
This week’s reopening of the market is contingent upon exporters use of alternative sanitizing compounds. Although U.S. government officials do not share Russia’s safety concern over the chlorinated water rinse, U.S. negotiators agreed that the chicken exports to Russia will not go through the rinse.
The deal prompted a rise in shares of several of the largest chicken producers.
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