A ban has been placed on the import of two consignments of frozen herring from Norway after veterinary experts found the accompanying documents were incorrectly prepared.
Russia’s Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary Inspection Service (VPIS) revealed that no border crossing point or transport vehicle was indicated in the documents accompanying the 41 tonne delivery from plants NT 171 and T 212.
The VPIS says inspection of Norwegian codfish and haddock processing establishments performed by the Norwegian competent authority itself revealed that the majority of them (209 out of 232) did not even comply with the Norwegian requirements.
A decision is currently being made whether administrative actions will be taken against the owner of the delivery.
History of veterinary statuses of these Norwegian plants suggest that veterinary and sanitary requirements had not been violated at plant NT 171 before, but restrictive measures were regularly taken against plant T 212.
In 2013, the number of dangerous Norwegian fish products imported to Russia containing live helminthes larvae, Listeria, coliforms and the number of violations found during documentary checks more than doubled and tripled, respectively.
Earlier this year, enhanced laboratory control was imposed twice due to E. coli and Listeria being found in herring consignments from plant T 212.
Since 18 November 2013, temporary restrictions have been imposed on exports of codfish and blue ling liver and from 1 January 2014, only 29 shore-based Norwegian plants are authorised to import food products.
Mercator Media Ltd 2014