Russia bans US frozen pork

Russia has imposed a temporary ban on frozen pork and beef imports from the United States over what it claims is the US’s failure to guarantee that these shipments are free of the feed additive ractopamine.

Ractopamine is added to cattle and pig feed to increase the animals muscle mass with less fat. The additive is banned in 80 countries, including in the European Union, China and Russia. But is widely used in US agriculture.

US meat exporters say the ban will mean huge financial losses. A spokesman for the US Meat Export Federation said that the United States had exported about $280 million worth of pork and about $305 million worth of beef to Russia in the first 11 months of 2012, Bloomberg reported. The agency also said the trade group plans to send a delegation to Russia this week to search for a “compromise.”