Russia's sanitary watchdog has approved four more US facilities for the export of poultry to Russia, leaving a ban in place for just five plants, Rosselkhoznadzor said in a statement on 27 August.

RIA Novosti reports that on 16 August, Russia lifted a ban on poultry imports from 68 US plants whose production processes met Russian requirements. The US side complained that 60 were merely cold-storage facilities and 19 of 27 processing plants were still barred from exports. After the latest move, 22 of 27 processing plants are approved for exports to Russia.

Last week, Russia expressed fears that poultry exported to the country from the US may contain salmonella after some 550 million eggs were recalled in the US that were distributed in 14 different states.

Russia asked the American Food and Drug Administration to submit a list of the farms that announced product recalls.

The US Poultry and Egg Export Council (USAPEEC) assured that all poultry meat products exported to Russia contain no salmonella bacteria.