Brazilian Beef Ban ‘Fully Justified’

The National Farmers’ Union has said the report by the EU Food and Veterinary Office has justified its call, a year ago, for a ban on Brazilian beef, after the inspection found "systematic failures."

The official report of the inspection, which was carried out in November, states the failures were discovered in relation to holding registration, animal identification and movement controls, and provisions were not guaranteed to exclude slaughtered animals from non-approved foot and mouth disease areas for export to the EU.

The findings, said NFU livestock board chairman Alistair Mackintosh, proved that not only was the NFU justified in calling for the ban on Brazilian beef exports to the EU, but that one should have been introduced earlier.

"This report highlights once again what we have told the EU Commission for a long time now, namely that one of our main competitors has been allowed to operate to lower standards of traceability than that of home producers," he said.

"High traceability standards in the UK mean I have to tag my cattle and register them to move them off my farm, so it makes my blood boil to see this report highlighting deficiencies in Brazilian controls which could allow for the fraudulent use of ear tags and for cattle from non-approved FMD areas of the country to be exported to the EU."

As a result of the inspection and the resultant EU ban on beef imports, apart from those from EU-approved holdings, currently just 95 Brazilian farms are certified to export to the EU, which is less than 1 per cent of the farms that were allowed to export before the partial ban came into place.

Mr Mackintosh added: "While it has always been the NFU’s preferred outcome to see a total ban on imports of beef from Brazil, until they get their house in order we expect the EU Food and Veterinary Office to be vigilant and robust in its monitoring of the situation in Brazil, to ensure they operate to the same standards as those expected of home producers."

The long-running issue has seen EU parliamentarians seeking a ban for many years.

(c) 2008 Western Morning News, The Plymouth (UK). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.