Last week, Russia’s Rosselkhoznador, the Federal Service for Veterinary and Phytosanitary Surveillance, announced that it would temporarily ban pork imports from Brazil beginning on December 1, 2017.  This announcement comes after the feed additive ractopamine was identified in some shipments.

Brazilian authorities have promised to conduct an internal investigation into the matter, and Brazilian and Russian authorities are expected to reach a swift agreement to lift the ban because Russia “still depends on Brazilian meats.”

The Russian ban comes after a year in which Brazilian exports of meat products came under severe scrutiny following a bribery scandal in which Brazilian federal police raided several meat producers for allegedly doling out bribes to inspectors to certify meat that was either rotten or tainted with Salmonella.  The U.S. is currently banning imports of fresh beef from Brazil due to recurring concerns about the safety of those products, but currently permits the importation of Brazilian pork subject to certain restrictions. It remains to be seen whether or to what extent the recently announced Russian ban will influence the U.S. or other jurisdictions’ decision to continue importing Brazilian pork products.