Russia expands the list of banned US meat imports

Russia has expanded the list of banned U.S. meat imports. In addition to U.S. pork, they have also banned U.S. beef and poultry from certain U.S. states.
The bans apply to meat and poultry produced in California, Kansas, New York, Ohio and Texas, where cases of influenza have been reported.
U.S. Meat Export Federation quickly denounced Russia's decision. USMEF President and chief executive officer Philip Seng described it among the "demonstrated overreactions" by certain trading partners.
The American Meat Institute also is trying to spread the word. In a statement, AMI quotes Keiji Fukuda of the World Health Organization as saying, " Right now we have zero evidence to suspect that exposure to meat leads to infections."
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk on Tuesday urged all trading partners to base their decisions on scientific evidence per international obligations.