Russia-New meat bans a daily event.

RUSSIA-PLAYING THE BIG SHOT WITH MEAT BANS.

There is no basis for concern over the safety of their meat, Russia expanded its ban on imports today to include Great Britain . Now Russia has effectively stopped importing meat from several US states, three Canadian provinces, Spain , Britain and Mexico , in connection with the developing swine flu epidemic.

The details of the ban are somewhat more complex, MeatRussia.com notes. The Federal Agency for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision, which is responsible for the safety of meat products in Russia , has divided the territories from which imports are banned into two zones.

In the first zone, the ban applies to any meat products made after May 1 and processed at temperatures lower than 80 degrees Celsius for less than 30 minutes’ duration. That zone is all the territories affected except the Canadian provinces of British Columbia , Nova Scotia and Ontario .

In the second zone, that is, in the Canadian provinces, live hogs, pork and inadequately processed pork products may not be exported to Russia .

Although 40 percent of the pork consumed in Russia is imported, the federal agency also issued assurances today that its price would not increase in Russia . A spokesman for the agency noted that Russia imports pork from a total of 32 countries, AMI-TASS news agency reports.

Compounding the problem, the Federal Agency for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Supervision also announced today that imports of kangaroo meat from one Australian producer would be temporarily halted next week due to the discovery of salmonella in its products, RIA Novosti noted.

Russia is one of more than 20 countries that have imposed bans on pork imports. Those countries include China , the world’s largest pork consumer. The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development has estimated that the Russian and Chinese meat bans could cost the US economy $1 billion per year.