Russia's sanitary watchdog Rospotrebnadzor may lift a ban on imports of vegetables from nine European Union states introduced after an outbreak of highly virulent E.Coli infection, chief sanitary doctor Gennady Onishchenko said on Thursday.
"We still have nine countries, including France, Germany and others, from which we are not yet permitting deliveries. We are considering the situation," Onishchenko told reporters, adding that every state must present food safety guarantees to import products to Russia.
Russia introduced the embargo on vegetable imports from the EU on June 2 after the E. Coli bacteria, traced to vegetables, killed at least 40 people in Europe.
After the source of infection was identified and the EU took measures to prevent the supply of infected vegetables to Russia, the service lifted the ban on vegetable imports from several EU countries. As of today Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Greece and the Czech Republic have a right to sell vegetables to Russia.
