Brazil defends beef after ‘system-wide problem’ prompts US ban

CHICAGO/BRASILIA: Brazil scrambled to shore up its beef industry’s reputation on Friday after the US blocked shipments of fresh cuts, saying it found abscesses in the meat and signs of systemic failure of inspections in the world’s largest beef exporter.

Officials in Canada and the EU also said they had rejected some shipments of Brazilian beef in recent months. Brazil’s government and meat industry said most problems stemmed from vaccinations and were being addressed.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) described repeated import violations involving raw beef from seven Brazilian facilities, indicating a “system-wide problem,” according to a letter seen by Reuters on Friday explaining the reason for Thursday’s ban.

“If you look at the financial aspect, it is important for the country but the bigger damage is to our image,” said Antonio Camardelli, head of Brazilian meat exporters association Abiec. He said USDA approval for Brazil’s fresh beef, which was only granted last year, was expected to open the door to bigger fresh beef importers such as Japan and South Korea.

Brazil Deputy Agriculture Minister Eumar Novacki said the problems laid out by the USDA posed no risk to public health. Novacki told reporters at a news conference that some cattle had adverse reactions to certain vaccines.

Among the violations the USDA detected were abscesses, unidentified foreign material and “ingesta,” which can include any food, drink or medicine that cattle consume.

Since March, the USDA has rejected 11 percent of Brazilian fresh beef products, compared to the rejection rate of 1 percent for shipments from the rest of the world. The shipments, totaling about 1.9 million pounds, raised concerns about public health, animal health and sanitation, the USDA said.

Camardelli said about 120 containers with some 3,000 tons of Brazilian meat currently are at sea headed to the US.

European and Canadian officials also described issues found in inspections of imported Brazilian beef.

The EU said it had rejected some shipments of Brazilian beef due to the presence of Shiga toxin-producing E. coli. Some Brazilian poultry shipments were refused because of salmonella.

Canada has rejected six shipments of Brazilian beef out of 191 meat shipments since April 10, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA).