Brazil meat imports may be cleared soon, DA says

THE Department of Agriculture (DA) said it is working on clearing Brazilian meat imports to the Philippines after a ban triggered by a salmonella outbreak.

Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol said he will send a team to Brazil to inspect the facilities of meat exporters whose products tested positive for salmonella, a species of bacteria that causes a type of food poisoning.

“My instruction was for them to send a certification right away as soon as they arrive in Brazil if they find nothing wrong… If they check the meat companies’ activities and nothing is irregular we will resume importation,” Mr. Piñol told reporters earlier this week in Quezon City.

He hopes imports can be cleared “within October,” Mr. Piñol added when asked for a timetable for the resumption of imports.

In July, the DA banned meat imports from Brazil, which accounts for 6% of Philippine meat imports.

The meat industry believes that salmonella in raw meat is not much of a safety issue because the bacteria is killed in the cooking process.

Separately, Mr. Piñol said that the DA has granted import clearances for seven million kilos worth of pork earlier this year and that the last of the shipments may arrive within the month.

Pork demand tends to spike towards the end-of-year holidays and the imports are expected to mitigate price pressures. —

THE STAFF of Rio de Janeiro state’s consumer protection agency, PROCON, inspect meat products in the cold storage room at a supermarket in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on March 24.