ovostar.ua
Ukrainian Agrarian Policy and Food Minister Oleksiy Pavlenko says that the results of the investigation conducted by his ministry to probe into shell eggs shipped to Israel after reports that the Ukrainian products were infected with Salmonella have confirmed that the eggs originating from Ukraine were not contaminated.
"We've had an extended meeting with [egg] producers. We've got [test] results. There is no Salmonella inside the eggs that were exported to Israel," the minister said.
He also informed the Ukrainian Agrarian Ministry was waiting for the results of tests from the Israeli side.
"This is a usual situation with routine issues," Pavlenko said.
The minister noted that a similar situation had occurred with exports of Ukrainian honey to the Czech Republic. Ukraine has started its own investigation into the circumstances of exports of Ukrainian honey to the Czech Republic, which claims that the product reportedly contains unauthorized antimicrobials.
As UNIAN reported earlier, Israel's Agriculture Ministry halted imports of Ukrainian shell eggs on January 6 due to suspicions that the products could be infected with Salmonella. Ukraine was seeking to resume shell eggs exports to Israel and proposed laboratory tests of each batch of eggs to remove concerns and restraints after contamination of Ukrainian eggs with Salmonella was reported.
On January 20, Ukraine suspended the issuance of veterinary permits for honey exports to the EU after laboratory tests conducted by the Czech Republic had revealed prohibited antimicrobial agents in the honey originating from Ukraine.