Russia has banned beef imports from India after traces of foot and mouth disease virus were found in one of the consignments.
The country has taken the decision to ban beef from India following inspection of processing facilities.
The New Indian express quoted sources as saying: "The decision will hit at least three meat processing units in Aligarh, Barabanki and Rampur in Uttar Pradesh and another unit in Aurangabad, Maharashtra.
"Russian inspectors found the virus in the meat during examination of consignments and immediately took the decision to stop import from these units."
The Indian Government has reportedly warned the units to avoid such setbacks in future.
Under the current export policy in India, each consignment undergoes mandatory microbiological and other tests along with pre-shipment inspection supervised by a government veterinarian.
India is one of the largest exporters of beef.
However, the country exports only buffalo meat as cow, oxen and calf meat is prohibited under the export foreign trade policy.
The Indian Government has stepped up vigilance on illegal export of cow meat along the ports, and is reviewing its meat export policies.
Buffalo meat contributes around 24% of total meat production in India. It was the largest product in the agricultural export category in 2014-15.
However, during April-August this year, India saw a 9% fall in buffalo meat exports to Rs94.66bn ($1.44bn), according to the Agricultural and Processed Food Products Exports Development Authority (APEDA).
The country mostly exports its buffalo meat to Vietnam, Malaysia, Egypt, Thailand and Saudi Arabia.
