Russia begins destroying embargoed pork

The first batch of embargoed pork has been destroyed in the southern Russian city of Samara, three days before the presidential decree ordering the destruction of confiscated Western food came  into force today. On Monday, 114 tons of pork that had been seized in April were destroyed, Rosselkhoznadzor spokeswoman Yulia Melano,  told RIA Novosti. 
According to the documentation presented at the border, the pork had originated in Brazil;  but with Brazilian officials unable to confirm the paperwork’s  authenticity, the decision was taken to destroy it.
Yury Ladygin head of Siberia’s Federal Customs Service, yesterday told  Interfax  that confiscated Western food would be ground down by tractors and buried in the ground.
President Vladimir Putin signed the decree on the destruction of confiscated Western food on July 29, which comes into force today, claiming that there were an increasing number of instances where importers were claiming embargoed goods originated rom countries outside the ban.