UPDATE 1-Pilgrim's Pride to resume chicken exports to Russia

* Alabama plants expect to start shipping shortly

* Dallas plant to start production Monday

July 26 (Reuters) - Pilgrim's Pride Corp (PPC.N) said it will resume chicken shipments to Russia shortly as it received formal U.S. approval following last month's agreement between the two countries to restart chicken exports.

The second biggest U.S. chicken producer behind Tyson Foods Inc (TSN.N) said the U.S. Department of Agriculture gave the company approval to export chicken from its processing facilities in Boaz and Russellville in Alabama and Dallas.

"Russia is an important export market for U.S. chicken and the re-opening of the borders will be a significant benefit to our company and industry," Pilgrim's Pride Chief Executive Don Jackson said in a statement.

Russia, once the largest overseas buyer of U.S. chicken, had banned the meat earlier this year, claiming a chlorine rinse used here violated its food safety rules. This irked U.S. chicken producers, who argued that the rinse was safe. [ID:nN24167821]

Under the new requirements approved last week, U.S. chicken companies can replace the chlorinated rinse with cetylpyridinium chloride, peroxyacetic acid or hydrogen peroxide, the company said.

Pilgrim's plants in Boaz and Russellville were converted to peroxyacetic acid earlier this year.

Shares of the company closed at $6.99 Friday on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Bangalore; Editing by Anne Pallivathuckal)