Brazilian Beef Bans Lifted but European Farmers Warn Against Food Affected by “Fraud”

28 Mar 2017 --- European farmers’ association and agricultural cooperative Copa Cogeca is calling on the EU Commission to take stronger action against Brazilian meat imports to the EU as the aftermath of the scandal continues.

Speaking in Brussels, last week, secretary general Pekka Pesonen hit out against Brazilian companies and authorities being accused of fraud.

And while he praised the European Commission’s decision to reject the European veterinary certificate for meat imports from the four Brazilian sites affected by food fraud, he claimed this decision does not go far enough to prevent such a situation from happening again.

“We need to recognize that the missions carried out by the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) and the controls undertaken at EU borders have been unable to detect the weaknesses in the Brazilian food safety system which have apparently being going on for more than ten years,” he said.

“It is not acceptable to have these kind of fraud cases emerging where export certificates have been falsified for ten years or more and veterinary requirements not complied with. This is not the first time that the Brazilian authorities are facing fraud.

Unfortunately, we have not seen sufficient corrective measures put in place. Effective action must be taken to prevent it from happening again.”

Copa and Cogeca is asking the Commission to closely monitor the steps taken by the Brazilian authorities to ensure that no other production sites have the same problem, and to draw up a road map for addressing such fraud in the future.

Pesonen stresses that European farmers and their cooperatives cannot afford to lower EU food safety standards or put EU consumer confidence at risk due to fraud in non-EU countries and how committed farmers are to EU production standards which, in the case of beef, is to provide full individual traceability of cattle throughout the animal’s lifetime.

“Copa and Cogeca refuse to allow double standards in food safety for meat to be applied vis a vis imports on the EU single market”, he added.

And he made further comments about how the Brazilian meat scandal raises concerns over trade talks.

“Brazil’s failure to apply and monitor EU-equivalent food safety standards for meat also raises serious concerns about the ongoing trade talks between the EU and Latin American trade bloc Mercosur. In beef, we reiterate our calls to implement the full individual traceability scheme for cattle throughout its lifetime. We believe that this scheme is a prerequisite for the next stages of the Mercosur trade negotiations.”

Allegations are around some regional operators using rotten meat or violating regulation in processing. The scandal involves the largest meat processing company in the world, JBS, and Brazilian food conglomerate and poultry exporter, BRF.

The shares of both companies have fallen since the investigation was first launch on March 17.

Meanwhile over the weekend, huge importing countries China, Chile and Egypt have reversed temporary suspensions they put in place last week.

Allegations also pertain to corruption within health departments where officials are accused of accepting bribes in return for falsified certificates.

While the bans have been lifted, the investigation in Brazil continues.

Lifting the bans has happened quite quickly and signals a show of support for Brazilian president Michel Temer who is leading Brazilian through its worst recession in 100 years.