Earlier this month, it was announced that a Russian veterinarian will oversee pork production in China to ensure that exported pork complies with Russian safety standards, says a spokesman for the Primorye and Sakhalin territorial office of the Russian veterinary and phytosanitary watchdog (Rosselkhoznadzor). China’s pork would be exported to Russia via four border checkpoints.

Pork will be exported by two butchering companies, Heilongjiang Baoquanling Shuanghui Food Industry Co. and Wangkui Shuanghui Beidahuang Food Co. Ltd., both headquartered in China’s northeast Heilongjiang province bordering Russia.

The presence of a Russian veterinarian at the production facilities will be an extra guarantee of meat safety. The veterinarian will control the raw materials, the butchering procedure and veterinary examination.

Earlier, Russian and China reached an agreement on the resumption of China’s pork exports to Russia, which had been suspended in 2004. Rosselkhoznadzor has already certified two Chinese companies incorporated with the world’s biggest pork producer WH Group to export their pork to Russia. WH Group manages Smithfield Foods, the leader of the U.S. pork market. China is the world’s biggest producer of pork. In 2013, pork output reached 68 million tonnes.