Russia, once the largest importer of US chicken, has lifted a seven-month ban on the meat, the US Department of Agriculture said on Friday (2 July).

Moscow Times reports that US poultry processors may begin submitting new applications to export meat to Russia, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) said. Russia blocked the meat in January by slashing the allowable amount of chlorine US processors could use as a disinfectant.

Russia has agreed to import poultry meat disinfected with hydrogen peroxide, cetylpyridinium chloride or peroxyacetic acid, instead of chlorine, which remains banned, the USDA said.

Russia spent $767 million on US poultry in 2009, according to a joint statement last week from the USDA and US Trade Representative. US exports of chicken to Russia plunged 84 per cent in the four months ended April 30 from a year earlier, and there were no shipments in March or April, according to the most recent USDA data.

On 24 June, US President Barack Obama said after a meeting on trade issues with President Dmitry Medvedev in Washington, that Russia had agreed to lift the ban.

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