Cautious China, Europe halt imports
A SCANDAL over allegations of bribery in Brazil’s meat-packing industry to allow the sale of expired meat deepened as the European Union (EU), China and Chile decided to halt some meat imports from Latin America’s largest nation.
The developments are a major blow to Brazil, one of the world’s largest exporters of meat, which is struggling to emerge from its worst recession in decades.
The announcements came despite a flurry of meetings that Brazilian President Michel Temer held with ambassadors, and assurances from the government that Brazilian meats in general are safe.
Speaking to reporters in Brussels, EU spokesman Enrico Brivio said the Brazilian companies involved in alleged bribery would be temporarily barred from shipping meat to the EU.
The EU “will guarantee that any of the establishments involved in the fraud will be suspended”, said Brivio, who did not name the companies or say
how long the ban would last.
A few hours later, Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi said that China had suspended the unloading of Brazilian meats in Chinese ports. Maggi played down that development, saying Chinese authorities were in the process of asking for more information.
“There is no Chinese embargo,” Maggi told reporters in Brasilia. “What we have are containers there that can’t leave the port to local markets.”
A Chinese foreign ministry spokeswoman in Beijing said China has taken “preventive and temporary” measures, but gave no details.
Chile followed suit, announcing the temporary suspension of Brazilian meats.
On Friday, police issued 38 arrest warrants related to the probe, naming several companies, including giant meatpackers JBS and BRF. Both companies have denied wrongdoing.
In a statement on Monday, JBS said it had been “inappropriately connected to this story”.
“There are no allegations in the judge’s order that JBS or its executive management violated food-safety or product-quality standards or engaged in any wrongdoing,” it said. “The investigation is focused on the actions of Brazilian federal meat inspectors.”
Late on Monday, the Brazilian government said it was barring the exports of meats from 21 plants being investigated, but that sales for internal consumption would not be affected.
Investigators charge that health inspectors were bribed to overlook the sale of expired meats. Police also allege that the appearance and smell of expired meats was improved by using chemicals and cheaper products such as water and manioc flour. Three plants have been shut down.
Brazil was the world’s largest producer of beef and veal in 2016 and one of the top exporters, according to the United States Department of Agriculture.
SOME of the world’s biggest protein buyers are slapping limits on supplies from Brazil as producers in the country become embroiled in a tainted meat scandal.
China, the largest importer of Brazilian chicken and beef, has temporarily suspended shipments from the South American country, while the EU and Chile have also restricted purchases.
Singapore authorities said the country was monitoring meat shipments from Brazil, as South Korea lifted its shortlived ban on chicken imports from Brazilian meat giant BRF.
The move to protect meat supplies comes after Brazilian federal authorities announced on March 17 that they were investigating evidence that local producers bribed government officials to approve the sale of spoiled meat.
The country’s prosecutors alleged some sausages and cold cuts contained animal parts such as pigs’ heads, that some meat products were adulterated with cardboard, and that, in some cases, acid was used to mask the smell of tainted meat.
Global importers were quick to take action in the wake of the scandal.
China said it would not accept Brazilian meat shipments until the South American nation provided further clarification on the probe, while Chile temporarily banned all meat imports from Brazil.
China and Hong Kong were the largest importers of Brazilian meat, accounting for a combined 35percent of the beef and 17 percent of the chicken shipped by the South American nation, according to industry data.
China edged past Brazil last year as the second-largest consumer of beef and veal, with both nations accounting for about 13 percent of global demand.
McDonald’s China, the country’s second-largest fast-food chain operator with 2 400 outlets, did not import meat from the suppliers named in the probe, according to a spokeswoman. The company said it used mostly domestic and Australian meat at its restaurants in China.
South Korea lifted a temporary suspension on chicken imports from BRF yesterday after officials confirmed with Brazil that imports from BRF were from plants that were not contaminated, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.
BRF was the only supplier among the 21 plants named in the probe that ships to the Asian nation, according to the ministry.
South Korea said it had never purchased rotten chicken and would maintain strengthened inspections on imports from Brazil.
Brazilian authorities confirmed that companies implicated in the probe had been suspended from exporting to the EU, European Commission spokesman Enrico Brivio said. The EU had asked Brazil to stop the companies from shipping to the region.
The bloc had suspended imports from four Brazil plants, including one owned by BRF, Ricardo Santin, a director at the Brazilian Association of Animal Proteins told journalists in Sao Paulo.
The EU is the second-biggest destination for beef and the third for chicken, accounting for less than 10 percent of total shipments.
“We have asked our member states to be vigilant,” Brivio told reporters in Brussels. “The commission remains in constant contact with the Brazilian authorities and is following this matter very closely.”
Food giants JBS and BRF have taken out full-page newspaper advertisements and paid for prime-time television spots to reassure consumers that their meat is safe to eat after finding themselves at the centre of Brazil’s latest corruption probe.
The scandal might impede Brazil’s plans to open new markets, including Mexico and South Korea, for beef after the US allowed imports of fresh meat last year, Antonio Carmadelli, the head of the Brazil meat exporters association Abiec, told journalists in Sao Paulo.
The US Meat Export Federation said it was too early to speculate on the potential impact on the global meat trade, because “there really are not enough facts available about the investigation, or about how Brazil’s trading partners will respond”, the group said in an emailed response to questions from Bloomberg. – Bloomberg