Russia's agricultural watchdog has decided to strengthen monitoring of food products of animal origin imported from Germany and some other EU countries, Rosselkhoznadzor announced on Saturday.
The move is in connection with the discovery of dangerous levels of dioxins in livestock and bird feed in Germany.
On Friday, the German authorities banned the sale of produce from more than 4,700 farms because of fears eggs and meat may be contaminated with dioxins.
Rosselkhoznadzor has requested official information on the investigation into the situation and the steps being taken to ensure dioxins does not enter the human food chain.
"In the case of non-receipt of such information as soon as possible, or if a peer review process considers the measures adopted by the German veterinary service to eliminate the possibility of dioxins in feed and food products inadequate to the extent of the threat, Rosselkhoznadzor reserves the right to impose restrictive measures on deliveries of animal products to Russia from high-risk regions," the agricultural watchdog said.
The European Union says that although the dioxin levels in affected eggs are five times the legal level, a human would have to consume vast amounts of them for his health to be affected.
MOSCOW, January 8 (RIA Novosti)
