Hrodna meat-packing plant accuses Rosselkhoznadzor of lying

Russia banned the import of products from Hrodna meat-packing plant. If so, who produced the sausages with the genome of the ASF virus?

Russia’s Rosselkhoznadzor said on January 22 that genetic material of African swine fever (ASF) virus was found in the sausages Doktorskiye produced by Hrodna meat-packing plant. The sausages were sold on the market in the town of Velikiye Luki, according to Rosselkhoznadzor. Hrodna meat-packing plant says in response it has not supplied a single lot of its products to Russia since December 10, when temporary restrictions on the import of the plant’s products to Russia were imposed, BelTA reports.

Moreover, Hrodna meat-packing plant did not export its products to Pskov Oblast of Russia even before the ban. “The town of Velikiye Luki has its own meat-processing plant, so we did not even consider entering that market. Thus, it is hard to escape a conclusion that those sausages had not been made at Hrodna meat-packing plant,” the plant’s general director Anatoli Hryshuk explained.

“The only way that our products could get there was to be delivered by some small business. But this explanation also raises doubts, as over the last months no outbreaks of ASF have been detected in the Hrodna region and no quarantine has been announced. Besides, not a single sample of our products has been proven to contain the genome of the virus,” Anatoli Hryshuk said.

Hrodna meat-packing plant sent its specialists to Pskov Oblast to restore justice. “According to the law, the products under suspicion should be kept for three months. Besides, four inspection reports should be drawn up, and one should be given to us,” the plant’s director noted.