US blocks Brazilian beef from entering
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 that 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.
System-wide problem
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 on Friday explaining the reason for Thursday’s ban.
While fresh beef shipments to the US represent only 1 percent Brazil’s beef exports, the ban there and scrutiny elsewhere threatens to tarnish the country’s powerhouse protein industry, which has suffered a series of recent scandals.
“If you look at the financial aspect, it’s 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.
“We worked a long time to open the US market, because it’s a passport to other markets,” Camardelli said.
Brazil Deputy Agriculture Minister Eumar Novacki said the problems laid out by the USDA posed no risk to public health.
Novacki said 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.
Brazilian beef exports to the US from companies including Marfrig Global Foods and Minerva also have been missing shipping marks and had labelling problems on containers, according to USDA data.
‘We worked a long time to open the US market, because it’s a passport to other markets.’
Novacki recognised there were flaws in Brazil’s inspection system, but suggested there could be “commercial motivations” for the US ban. He said US and European authorities had stepped up inspections of Brazilian beef in recent months.
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, totalling about 862 000kg, 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.
The Canadian agency said it recently blocked imports from one JBS plant in Brazil that did not meet food safety requirements, but is accepting meat from plants that meet its standards.