The inspection was carried out at the Blumar Salmon Plant in Talcahuano in order to make transparent and publicize the sanitary measures in transport within the framework of the pandemic. 

The initiative is part of the requests agreed upon with the Russian government to allow remote phytosanitary inspections, in compliance with the sanitary requirements demanded by Rosselkoznadzhor, the Russian competent authority.

This modality, which the National Fishing and Aquaculture Service (Sernapesca) has been implementing since 2020 in processing facilities, has proven to be an efficient working tool that allows continuity of official inspection activities, facilitating food safety control and ensuring compliance with the sanitary requirements of the countries receiving aquaculture and fishing exports.

The Commercial Manager of Salmon, Daniel Montoya, commented that “The pandemic has brought important changes that have forced us to develop, with the help of technology, new ways of communicating and relating without contact, even reaching the point of conducting these audits of production facilities by video call”.

He also added that "I am confident that many of these remote processes will continue in the future, even after the pandemic has ended. But the final decision, despite official inspections at the plants, will be made by each country".

Russian authorities have gradually lifted their restrictions imposed since 2019 on the 19 processing plants related to salmon production and trade. The most recent have been different salmon farms located in the Los Lagos Region and it is expected that Blumar will also be part of this lifting of restrictions.