Negotiations with the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay devoted to the issue of compliance of exported soybeans with the requirements of the RF

The negotiations with the competent authority of Uruguay took place as part of measures aimed at studying capabilities of the soybean exporting countries to comply with the RF requirements for safety of the exported products. The specialists also acquainted themselves with the laboratory facilities and studied the control system applied during the shipments from the port of Nueva Palmira, reports www.megafishnet.com with reference to Rosselkhoznadzor.

The negotiations with the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay (MGAP) were devoted to the control of compliance of exported to the RF soybeans with the safety requirements, particularly concerning the content of genetically-modified organisms (GMO). The Russian party was represented by Yulia Koroleva, Head of the FGBI “Centre for Grain Quality Assessment” and specialists of the centre. The Uruguayan party (Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay) was represented by Enzo Benech, Deputy Minister; Inocencio Bertoni, Head of the Agriculture Department; Alexandra Ferenzi, technical engineer of the Biosafety Division; Gonzalo Souto, specialist of the Service for Agricultural Planning and Strategy; Soledad Amuedo, specialist of the International Relations Department; Santiago Motta, technical expert of the International Relations Department; as well as Director Pedro Keheile and specialists of the laboratory of the National Seed Institute INASE.

During negotiations the Uruguayan party pledged that after obtaining official RF requirements for safety of the products, particularly related to the circulation of genetically-modified organisms (GMO), it will take all the measures for meeting these requirements. In particular the Uruguayan party is developing the plan for implementation of measures for separation of products exported to the RF into lines, to avoid entering hybrid line of soy MON87701 x MON89788, not registered in the RF at the moment. According to the Rosselkhoznadzor territorial administrations, in accordance with the issued phytosanitary certificates, 32.35 thousand tons of grain and products thereof were exported from Uruguay to the RF in 2014, where 32.01 thousand tons were soybeans (bulk of the export). Though Uruguay did not export soybeans to the RF in 2015, the Uruguayan party expressed its interest in exporting these products to Russia. Two laboratories, Laboratory of the National Seed Institute (INASE) and Testing laboratory for animal feed safety (MGAP), were visited in Montevideo. The delegation paid special attention to the laboratory capacity for testing products for GMO, identification and quantification of GM lines in compliance with the Russian Federation requirements for  soybeans and soybean meal export to Russia. The Laboratory of the National Seed Institute (INASE) is the OECD member, accredited by the National Security Committee CNBio and carries out tests of products for GMO, performs GMO line identification and quantification. Besides, the INASE is accredited by the International Seed Testing Association (ISTA) for testing, inter alia, of seeds for GMOs. The laboratory control for GMOs is performed using the EU validated methods for GMO identification and quantification. Real-time PCR method is used that is the internationally recognized arbitrary method and corresponds to the laboratory method used by the RF laboratories. The Testing laboratory for animal feed safety of the MGAP carries out a wide range of tests including tests of products for pesticide residues, for pesticide chemical quality and phytosanitary examinations (herbological, entomological, virological, bacteriological and mycological tests). This Laboratory does not perform tests of products for GMOs.

The Russian delegation headed by Sergey Dankvert, Head of the Rosselkhoznadzor, also visited the sea port of Nueva Palmira; that is a very important transportation hub where Uruguayan products are shipped, as well as soybeans from Paraguay and other countries are transshipped from river vessels to marine large-capacity vessels. Up to 85-ton container marine vessels come to the port but they are loaded to maximum of 40 tons with the additional loading in more deep sea ports. The storage capacity of Nueva Palmira seaport is about 460 ths tons. As for the exported grains the samples are taken from the conveyer belt after the product weighing. The samples are taken by authorized officers of the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries of Uruguay as well as by survey companies.

During the visit the representatives of the Ministry of Livestock, Agriculture and Fisheries of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay repeatedly expressed their interest in cooperation with the Russian party and assured that all official requirements of the Russian Federation for safe GMO circulation would be met.