Russia's sanitary watchdog Rospotrebnadzor is to carry out checks on U.S.chicken and turkey imports after 76 people in America fell ill and one died after eating turkey stuffing, chief sanitary doctor Gennady Onishchenko said on Wednesday.
The U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention said citizens of 26 states have contracted salmonella since March. Last week the USDA warned about this type of salmonella, which cannot be cured with standard antibiotics, and advised consumers to cook turkey thoroughly to reduce chances of being infected with the disease.
"As for supplies, our country imports chicken quarters mainly, turkey meat is also imported but not in large amounts. We are monitoring the problem. If border control discovers lots with infection spores above the permitted level, of course, we will withdraw them from sale and ban them," Onishchenko told RIA Novosti.
The U.S. watchdog did not say who produced the meat and has not started withdrawing it.
"Salmonella is a commonplace cause, the result of a very relaxed attitude towards the microworld by mankind. The emergence of salmonella is the gross interference in nature by man, including drug resistance, raising poultry in unnatural conditions," Onishchenko said, adding that sanitary safety during white meat production in the U.S. is low.
