Irish call for full ban on Brazilian beef

European Commission officials are being criticised for not banning all beef imports from Brazil in the midst of the ‘rotten meat’ scandal that is tarnishing its industry.

As the crisis deepens, Brazil’s global customers are lining up to place import bans on its beef.

One of Brazil’s biggest customers for beef is China which imported almost one-third of the Brazilian meatpacking industry’s €12.8 billion in exports last year. It has suspended imports of all meat products from Brazil as a precautionary measure.

Hong Kong has also banned Brazilian beef while other countries including Chile and the EU have placed partial bans.

However, the EU has only banned imports from four meat-processing plants in Brazil, which is not sitting well with many farmers and farm organisations in Europe.

EU Agriculture Commissioner Phil Hogan said: “We have asked Brazil to remove establishments implicated in the scandal immediately from the EU-approved list.

“In fact, the EU asked Brazil to suspend certification of these establishments pending de-listing. Following these contacts, Brazil has suspended all exports from all establishments involved in the scandal.”

Brazil’s agriculture minister Blairo Maggi said the government had suspended exports from 21 meatprocessing units. He said that an all-out ban on Brazilian meat exports would be a disaster.

Maggi said: “I pray, I hope, I work so that does not happen.”

Meanwhile, Irish Farmers’ Association president Joe Healy has reiterated his call for a full ban on Brazilian meat imports into the EU, including poultry, saying the move by the EU Commission to halt only those companies implicated in the investigation is not enough.

Mr Healy said it is not credible for the EU’s policy on equivalence of standards if the Commission doesn’t impose a full ban.

The IFA has written to EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis demanding a full ban.

EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis.