VZCZCXYZ0004
PP RUEHWEB

DE RUEHMO #0267/01 0341601
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 031601Z FEB 09
FM AMEMBASSY MOSCOW
TO RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC PRIORITY 5438
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 1762
INFO RUEHVI/AMEMBASSY VIENNA 4708
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 5266

UNCLAS MOSCOW 000267 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
USDA FAS FOR OCRA/KUYPERS; OSTA/HAMILTON, BEAN; 
ONA/TING, SALLYARDS, MURPHY 
PASS FSIS DUTROW, HARRIES 
PASS APHIS MITCHELL, TANIEWSKI 
STATE FOR EUR/RUS 
STATE PASS USTR FOR CHATTIN 
BRUSSELS PASS APHIS/FERNANDEZ 
VIENNA PASS APHIS/TANAKA 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: EAGR ETRD ECON WTO RS
SUBJECT: RUSSIAN VET SERVICE DELISTS 9 MORE U.S. 
PORK FACILITIES 
 
REF: A) HANSEN/DUTROW EMAIL 1/28/09, B) 08 MOSCOW 
2608, C) 08 MOSCOW 2435 
 
SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
¶1. (SBU) SUMMARY: The Russian Federal Veterinary 
and Phytosanitary Surveillance Service (VPSS) 
advised via official letter that 9 additional 
U.S. pork facilities will be delisted as of 
February 10 ostensibly due to clerical errors 
found on documentation that accompanied meat 
shipments to Russia.  This marks the first time 
that VPSS has delisted U.S. meat facilities for 
clerical errors on accompanying veterinary 
certificates even though the product were found 
to be safe and wholesome.  The original scanned 
copy of the letter and courtesy translation were 
sent to FAS/FSIS on January 28, 2009 (REF A).  An 
informal embassy translation of the letter 
follows. END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) BEGIN TEXT: 
Moscow, January 27, 2009 
No. FS-NV-2/444 
 
Assistant Administrator 
Office of International Affairs 
USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) 
Dr. Ronald K. Jones 
 
The Federal Veterinary and Phytosanitary 
Surveillance Service (VPSS) extends its regards 
to the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service 
and informs you of the following: 
 
VPSS officials in Kamchatskiy kray discovered the 
following gross violations in shipments of meat 
product from the United States to the address of 
"Logisticheskaya Sluzhba" (Kamchatskiy kray): 
 
On October 25, 2008, 24,957 kg of pork jowls 
arrived at the port from establishment 320M in 
container PONU 4865522 with U.S. veterinary 
certificate RFP-121349 dated August 06, 2008. 
During routine inspection, official veterinarians 
found 585 kg of pork hearts from establishment 
320M without complete veterinary documentation. 
 
On October 31 of 2008, a shipment of pork by- 
products from establishment 18079 in container 
PONU 4952925 with U.S. veterinary certificate 
RFP-125686 dated August 08, 2008, was detained. 
During routine veterinary inspection, official 
veterinarians found products with manufacturing 
dates on boxes that did not match the dates 
indicated on the accompanying veterinary 
certificate. 
 
On December 1, 2008, 24,495 kg of pork from the 
establishments 85B and 85O were detained.  The 
product was shipped in container MWCU 6292570 
with U.S. veterinary certificate RFP-086017 dated 
July 18, 2008, and issued by cold storage 27398. 
During routine veterinary inspection, several 
boxes of pork were found to have an additional 
label in Russian stating, "Manufacturer: Tyson 
Fresh Meats Establishment 244L".  This 
establishment was never indicated in the 
accompanying veterinary certificate. 
Veterinarians also found missing labels on the 
internal packages of meat blocks; some blocks in 
cartons did not have internal packages at all. 
 
On December 11, 2008, 29,814 kg of pork were 
detained.  The product was manufactured at 
establishment 717 and passed through cold storage 
3898 and 21059 with U.S. veterinary certificate 
RFP-089745 dated September 10, 2008.  During 
routine veterinary inspection, official 
 
veterinarians found that the above-mentioned 
veterinary certificate was issued for only 13,410 
kg.  This means that the additional 16,404 kg of 
pork were shipped with no accompanying veterinary 
documents. 
 
On December 12, 2008, 22,473 kg of pork were 
detained.  The product originated from 
establishment 413 and pass through cold storage 
18435 and 18079 with U.S. veterinary certificate 
RFP-089745 dated September 10, 2008.  During 
routine veterinary inspection, official 
veterinarians discovered that veterinary 
certificate RFP-125692 was indicated on the 
package of the product but did not correspond to 
the number on the accompanying veterinary 
certificate.  China was indicated on the labels 
as country of destination. 
 
On November 16, 208, VPSS officials in Magadan 
oblast discovered violations in a shipment of 
12,085.42 kg of prepared meat products from the 
United States in container TRLU 2011417 to the 
address of "Nord Star Catering" (Magadan oblast). 
The shipment was accompanied with veterinary 
certificates RFP-091959 of September 19, 2008, 
and RFP 199327 of September 11, 2008.  During 
routine veterinary inspection, official 
veterinarians found that veterinary certificate 
RFP-091959 (issued for frozen pork and pork by- 
products exported to the Russian Federation for 
processing or retail trade) was actually issued 
for smoked bacon that was produced at the 
establishment 717 and shipped from the cold 
storage 31552.  The vessel "Amderma" was 
indicated in under "Transport" but the shipment 
actually arrived on the vessel 'Beluga 
Foresight". Weight units, packaging, processing 
establishment number, name or number of transport 
were not indicated in the accompanying veterinary 
certificate RFP 199327 dated September 11, 2008, 
that was issued for prepared meat products 
manufactured at establishment 9201. 
 
On October 2, 2008, VPSS officials from Tver 
oblast and Pskov oblast revealed gross violations 
in a shipment of 23,732 kg of pork from the 
United States to "Velikolukskiy Myasokombinat' 
(Pskov oblast).  The product originated from 
establishment 31965 and was shipped from cold 
storage 18674 in container OOLU 6034495 with 
veterinary certificate RFP-096406 dated August 
25, 2008.  During routine veterinary inspection, 
official veterinarians discovered discrepancies 
in the manufacturing date of the products 
indicated in the labels (June 2008) with the 
manufacturing date listed in the accompanying 
veterinary certificate (April 2008). 
 
VPSS has repeatedly informed FSIS of the frequent 
occurrences of these gross violations and asked 
that necessary measures be taken for improving 
control of the Qrk of U.S. veterinary 
specialists and the companies approved for export 
of meat products to Russia.  To date, the U.S. 
veterinary services have not taken effective 
measures to enforce the control on the products 
exported to Russia and to prevent frequent 
violations. 
 
As a result, VPSS is forced to impose temporary 
restrictions on veterinary produQs to the 
Russian Federation from the following U.S. 
establishments 320M, 18079, 85B, 85O, 27398, 
3898, 18435, 18079, 31552, 9201, and 18674 as of 
February 10, 2009.  COMMENT: Establishment 9201 
is not on the list of approved U.S. pork 
exporters to Russia and 18079 was listed twice. 
This appears to be a clerical mistake on behalf 
 
of VPSS. END COMMENT. 
 
The temporary restrictions may be lifted only 
after joint audits of the mentioned 
establishments have been undertaken. 
 
Dr. Jones, let me assure you of my highest 
esteem. 
 
Deputy Head 
N.A. Vlasov 
END TEXT. 
 
¶3. (SBU) For almost 2 years now VPSS has 
complained about what they consider to be a large 
number of clerical errors being discovered 
on U.S. veterinary certificates accompanying meat 
and poultry shipments to Russia.  Periodically, 
VPSS summarizes all of the typos found on 
veterinary certificates and, as in this instance, 
sends the list to FSIS via official letters 
threatening to ban either the facilities in 
question and/or the entire U.S. meat and poultry 
industry unless measures are taken to stop the 
number of "gross violations of Russian veterinary 
rules and regulations".  An example of a minor 
clerical error is a missing number of the meat 
processing facility listed on a certificate. 
Post has reminded VPSS officials on numerous 
occasions that minor typos on veterinary 
certificates have nothing to do with food safety 
or quality of the product in question and should 
not solely restrict the product from clearing 
through customs. 
 
¶4. (U) The United States exported approximately 1 
million metric tons of meat and poultry to Russia 
valued at an USD 640 million dollars in calendar 
year 2007.  The quantity of meat that arrived 
with accompany veterinary certificates that had 
clerical errors  totaled 2,515 metric tons 
or just 0.25 percent of total U.S. meat shipments 
to Russia (REF B).  During the first 9 months of 
2008, the United States exported over 36,000 
containers of meat and poultry to Russia.  During 
the same period, VPSS has informed Post of 44 
findings of errors on accompanying veterinary 
certificates.  This shows that on 0.12 percent of 
all U.S. shipments during this time period 
arrived with typos on veterinary certificates. 
While most would consider this to be an 
acceptable margin of error that comes with large 
trade volumes, VPSS believes otherwise and now 
enforces a strict zero tolerance policy towards 
human error and will now use this justification 
to delist U.S. meat/poultry facilities in an 
effort to manage trade. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Most countries around the world accept 
that occasional human error occurs when paperwork 
is filled out for meat and poultry shipments.  It 
is a common international practice for countries 
to accept replacement certificates or correction 
letters from a trading partner's veterinary 
service when minor typographical errors are 
discovered on veterinary documentation at which 
point the product is quickly cleared.  Breaking 
away from standard international practice, VPSS 
refuses to accept replacement certificates or 
correction letters from the United States.  In 
additional, VPSS now demands that FSIS make 
arrangements to have all shipments sent back to 
the United States when typos are found on 
veterinary certificates.  As a result, many 
Russian importers have been forced to provide 
large (under the table) payments to customs and 
VPSS port officials to get the product released 
to avoid paying demurrage.  Before 2007, FSIS 
correction letters were accepted by VPSS without 
 
any problems (REF C). 
 
¶6. (SBU) A high level VPSS official in 
Vladivostok informed Post recently that typos on 
veterinary documents accompanying shipments from 
the United States are not really a problem for 
them and that such occurrences are rare compared 
to the volume arriving at their port.  He added 
that when typos do occur they are usually very 
minor in nature such as a missing number of the 
U.S. establishment.  Interestingly, the official 
complained that his staff in Vladivostok is 
exhausted in dealing with the very high number of 
problems being discovered with imported Brazilian 
meat and poultry.  He added that a large 
percentage of Brazilian shipments arrive with no 
veterinary certificates at all and/or with many 
other major discrepancies on documentation.  Yet 
the same tough zero tolerance policy on clerical 
errors is not being enforced on Brazilian 
products (or from any other major trading 
partner).  This leads Post to believe that VPSS 
port authorities have been instructed to 
specifically target American shipments in an 
effort to reduce growing U.S. meat and poultry 
exports to Russia. 
 
¶7. (SBU) This is the first time that VPSS has 
delisted U.S. meat facilities due to clerical 
errors on accompanying documentation.  Several of 
9 facilities banned include major exporting 
companies such as Smithfield, Farmland and 
Cargill.  It is reasonable to expect more U.S. 
facilities will be delisted in the future under 
similar justification unless VPSS is forced to 
back away from this new policy shift.  Post 
encourages Washington addressees to seek higher- 
level intervention and to respond immediately to 
this letter. 
 
¶8. (SBU) COMMENT: It is unacceptable that U.S. 
meat and poultry facilities that produce and 
export safe and wholesome products are being 
delisted because of clerical errors discovered on 
accompanying certificates. This new policy 
appears to be nothing more than a non-tariff 
barrier aimed at protecting domestic producers at 
the expense of U.S. exporters.  This type of 
behavior is totally unacceptable from a country 
that is at the end game of WTO accession. END 
COMMENT. 
BEYRLE