Experts from Sverdlovsk Region division of Rospotrebnadzor (the state-run consumer rights watchdog) have examined 1,705,400 tons of meat products since the beginning of the year, and 6.6 tons, or 0.4% had to be discarded, the agency’s press service reports.

The situation looked particularly unsatisfactory as far as poultry was concerned. Thirty-one samples of chicken meat (whole chickens and their parts) have been examined, and nine of these samples (29%) were declared not to meet the GOST Р52702-2006 standards for technical conditions of chicken meat (chickens, hens, broilers, and their parts) because of too much water left after defrosting. In the first half of 2010, thirty-seven samples of chicken meat (whole chickens and their parts) were examined, and seven of them (22.6%) were declared not to meet the standards in terms of the amount of water left after defrosting. The unfit chicken meat was produced by Chelyabinsk Region-based Uralbroiler and Sverdlovsk Region-based Reftinskaya poultry factory. Also, some chicken meat imported from the U.S. failed to meet the standards as well.