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The EU executive voiced Wednesday ‘profound dissatisfaction’ over Russia’s failure to lift a blanket ban slapped on EU vegetables due to Germany’s killer E. coli bacteria outbreak. Moscow had agreed on Friday to lift the embargo after two days of summit talks between EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso and Russian President Dmitry Mededev.

The European Union had reacted furiously to Moscow’s ban on vegetables from the 27-nation union, calling it disproportionate and scientifically unjustified, and demanded it be immediately lifted. Vegetable farmers across Europe are claiming immense damages in the fallout from the bacteria outbreak, which to date has killed at least 37 people, including its first child, who died on Tuesday.

Source: www.freshplaza.com

Speaking after a summit with an array of top EU officials in the Volga River city of Nizhny Novgorod, 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Moscow, Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev said the country will be ready to lift the ban after receiving the safety certificates from the EU.

Russian officials had said before the summit the ban will only be lifted once the EU determines what caused the outbreak and how the bacteria spread.

Despite the expressions of hope over the lifting of the ban, there’s still uncertainty as to when it will actually be done. Gennady Onishchenko, Russia’s top sanitary official who attended Friday’s summit, wouldn’t say when the ban could be lifted, signaling that it could take longer than just a few days. He also denied the fact that Rospotrebnadzor had forced retail chains to withdraw European berries from circulation. There was no official ban on berries import from the EU countries.

Source: www.freshplaza.com

While Russia is trying to satisfy the local demand for vegetables with domestic fresh produce, EU proposes millions in aid for farmers. The European Union’s (EU) farm chief on Tuesday proposed euro 150 million ($219 million) in aid to help producers hit by the continent’s E. coli contamination crisis.

Rusisa’s Ambassador to the European Union Vladimir Chizhov says in a statement that Russia hopes that the issue of EU vegetable import ban will be settled by the Russia-EU summit that’s due in Nizhni Novgorod on June 9 and 10. Moscow imposed the ban on vegetable imports last Thursday following the appearance of numerous cases of a dangerous enteral infection in Europe.

The EU said the Russia-made move is disproportionate to the degree of the threat. But Chizhov stressed the point that no financial losses can be compared with human life.

Source: www.freshplaza.com

On June 6 Russia imposed ban on import of European berries. Retail chains should withdraw European fresh and frozen berries from circulation. The ban concerns particularly strawberries and blackberries. Apart from Russia Saudi Arabia has also introduced ban on vegetables import from the EU countries.

According to the European Commission, 23 people have died of this E. coli strain to date. The overall number of those infected has exceeded 2,000 in 13 EU countries. Though the source of the contaminated food has not been detected yet.

Source: www.fruitnews.ru

Russia has banned the import of all fresh vegetables from the European Union because of the E. coli outbreak centered on Germany. More than 1,500 people have been infected by the deadly enterohaemorrhagic E. coli (EHEC). The total value of EU exports of fresh vegetables to Russia was 600m euros a year, a quarter of the total exported. Spain, France, Germany and Poland are the biggest exporters.The country’s chief medical officer and head of Consumer protection agency Gennady Onishchenko said EU-produced vegetables would be seized across Russia. He criticized food safety standards in the EU. “This shows that Europe’s lauded health legislation – one which Russia is being urged to adopt – does not work,” he said.

Source: www.bbc.co.uk