High-ranking official threatens to impose ban on Polish beef imports to Russia

Gennady Onishchenko, Russia's chief health official responsible for food and hygiene policies, in an interview for Echo Moskva radio station announced that several cases of mad cow disease (BSE) had been reported in Poland and threatened to impose a ban on imports of Polish beef to Russia. However, this assertion has not been independently confirmed and according Stanislaw Zacharenko from the Russian Agriculture Department, the government is planning no such actions. Polish authorities claim no BSE cases have been reported in the country. "If any doubts should arise [about the disease] we would be the first to acknowledge them", says Polish Chief Veterinarian Pawel Policzkiewicz. Despite the fact that Poland is still in the group of countries with low BSE risk, the government has taken steps to prevent an outbreak of the deadly disease by extending the ban on beef imports from EU countries and by introducing more stringent regulations on food products. Last year Poland sold raw and frozen beef for about $2 million to Russia. (Rzeczpospolita, p.A1, B2, Prawo i Gospodarka, p.2)