[30.06.2003, 10:00]
The last version of GOST 51074 was abolished ... By the order No. 213 ST, signed on the 27th of June 2003, the State Standard (GOST) P51074-97 ‘Food. Information for the consumer. General demands’ was abolished, Coffeetea.ru reported. The last version of the order was to come into force on July 1 2003.

[03.06.2003, 13:40]
SARS can reshape the whole tea market ... The absence of reliable information on the ways in which severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is spread, combined with the statements on the potential ways of SARS transmission by food, provoke concerns about SARS prevention measures currently taken by the domestic sanitary services. Apart from the fact that it is virulent for people, SARS badly affects businesses. According to Aberdeen Group, the virus has affected almost all major routes, used for the delivery of high-tech goods. There was a drop in labour productivity in the high-tech industry in the South-East Asia owing to the SARS epidemic. The SARS outbreak halted production, caused delays in transportation of goods and difficulties during the export of semi-conductors and other components from China and the neighboring countries, all these factors disrupting the growth of the industry this year. From this situation the key question arises: what are the possible implications for trade relations between the countries, and particularly for the players of the tea market in case the crisis will continue?
Numerous reports about measures put in place by the government to avoid the transmission of SARS to Russia can hardly remove the feeling of uncertainty from the minds of the population. Controlling the export of different goods including food staff from SARS effected countries is another concern, confirmed by the reports about the vigilance of many developed countries’ governments on goods exported from the SARS effected areas. Before reaching the destination, commodities have to encounter numerous impediments. Owing to the spread of the deadly virus in Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan and some other countries, the International Epizootic Bureau has taken a decision to impose a ban on the import of the products form these countries, one report said. The information does not bring transparence to the situation. Will Russia be forced to impose temporary restrictions on the import of tea from the contaminated countries, following the restrictive measures taken by Germany, Azerbaijan, Belorussia and other countries and will these steps have an impact on the supplies of tea from China and Vietnam? Experts of the tea market believe that the deliveries from these countries can be temporarily replaced by deliveries form India, Indonesia, Georgia, Argentina. As regards of black tea, it is unlikely to face any serious problems, whereas green tea, being produced mainly in China and Vietnam, is predicted to seriously suffer from SARS. Supplies of tea from Indonesia, Japan and Georgia will not be able to fully meet the demand of green tea, meaning that SARS can influence the situation in the world tea supply market.

Supplemental information:
The World Health Organization was empowered to issue a health alert in any country suspected in spreading a disease, such as pneumonia-like illness, before the country makes its own reports on the detection of the disease. China is supposed to cover up the details of SARS for several months, though the distinct signs of the virus appeared as early as November 2002. As a result of China’s secretiveness the first official report reached the WTO only in March, the deadly virus being spread by this time through Hong Kong and Vietnam. (Reuters. Gazeta.ru)
On 8 May 2003, the Ministry of Transportation of the Russian Federation passed an action plan to introduce temporary restrictions on travel by railway, sea and aviation state services to the countries, in which cases of the disease were registered, mainly to China and Mongolia, the measure taken in a bid to prevent SARS from spreading to Russia. No restrictions are imposed on cargo transportation. Staff members convoying the shipment of cargo are under medical control, L.D. Voropaeva, a press-secretary for the State Sanitary Epidemiological Inspectorate Department said.
One of the primary ways in which SARS (pneumonia-like disease) can be spread – besides transmission by infectious droplets - is by food, for-ua.com sight reported recently, citing regions.ru. Klaus Schtor, the WTO scientists responsible for SARS research, said that the SARS epidemic had started because the transmission of the deadly virus through infectious droplets was seen as the only possible way in which it could be spread. Owing to the false theory, no measures were taken to contain the spread of the virus by food. Schtor also said that the recent research by the Hong Kong scientists confirmed the information that excrements of the patients with SARS contain the virus. This means that SARS prevention measures will soon have to be changed. However, Volfhang Preiser, the famous German microbiologist, says that the hope that introducing quarantine rules could contain the spread of the virus is almost completely lost. He believes that SARS has already been spread to other countries and its further transmission is unavoidable.
The official information on SARS epidemic in the world and in Russia is available at the web sight of the State Sanitary Epidemiological Inspectorate Department of Russia to the address: www.gsen.ru in the section SARS.