Russia bans animal fats from EU countries

After several products failed to meet hygiene standards, Russia has announced a ban on import of animal fats and offal from the European Union (EU), widening its ongoing rift with the West.

It follows Russia’s previous ban on most food items from EU nations after the Ukrainian crisis.

Rosselkhoznadzor, Russia’s official watchdog, announced that the country would be imposing a ban on products such as pork, chicken and beef fats, offal manufactured by EU nations from Tuesday.

The organisation cited 17 cases of substandard food items from EU nations such as Austria, Germany, Denmark, Italy and Poland as the reason for the ban. In August, Russia announced the one-year ban for the first time on European fruits, vegetables and meat.

Because of their response in the Ukrainian crisis, the US, Canada, Australia and Norway have also suffered sanctions from Russia. As Russia is the second largest market for European produce after the US, this ban is expected to further hit Europe’s agriculture sector.

The European Commission has already given close to €155m (£124m) to the EU as emergency funding to help farmers who have been hit by the ban.

Rosselkhoznadzor said that the latest measure was intended to fix a loophole in the sanctions. Eubusiness.com quoted the watchdog as saying in a statement: "Some types of meat products including offal could still be supplied to Russia from European Union countries even after the (sanctions) entered force."

City AM said that the European Commission spokesman Roger Waite has claimed that the ban would cost round €5bn (£4bn). However, analysts at the Benelux bank ING estimated it will cost EU economies €6.7bn (£5.3bn), which could lead to 130,000 job losses.