Russia's top sanitary official said yesterday (14 September) that he had been informed about attempts to bring controversial US chlorine-treated poultry via third states into the country, reports RIA Novosti.

Citing information from what he described as "relevant sources", Russia's chief sanitary official, Gennady Onishchenko, said: "Attempts are being made to bring chlorine-treated poultry of US producers to Russia, repacked under [the brand names of] producers from third states."

He hinted that the deliveries were most likely to be made through other members of the recently established Customs Union, namely Belarus and Kazakhstan.

"The eased requirements that members of the Customs Union enjoy facilitate such deliveries to our country," the Russian official said.

The RIA Novosti report adds that on 1 January, Russia introduced new sanitary standards, banning the treatment of meat with chloride of a higher concentration than in drinking water. A difficult negotiating process between Russia and the United States began, while Russia was also negotiating poultry supplies with other states as well as trying to increase domestic production. By September, Russia's sanitary watchdog approved 83 US facilities for the import of poultry to Russia, leaving a ban in place for just four plants. US poultry accounted for almost 80 per cent of poultry imports to Russia. The US import quota amounts to 600,000 tons in 2010.