UK lifts strict sanitary controls on Brazilian poultry and beef imports

03 Aug 2023 --- UK food safety authorities have ended reinforced inspections on Brazilian meat imports and reinstated the establishment approval system. This comes after an audit of Brazil’s sanitary and phytosanitary controls by the government’s Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Being approved by the UK for pre-listing of poultry and beef imports is no longer needed and the period of enhanced pre- and post-import testing requirements for salmonella has now ended.

The audit focused on the Brazilian system of inspection of products of animal origin, especially poultry and beef. It was the first British audit mission abroad after Brexit.

 It acknowledged that Brazil had resolved the issues related to its sanitary and phytosanitary regulatory system, which led to the establishment of enhanced controls.

The decision of the British authorities confirms the adequacy of the official sanitary controls in Brazil and found “the improvement in the results of salmonella testing of consignments since the start of the reinforced checks.”

In 2022, Brazil exported US$282.2 million in poultry and approximately US$134.5 million in beef to the UK. Since Brexit, Brazilian agricultural exports to the UK increased by 67%, reaching US$1.8 billion in 2022.

Defra audit
The audit team visited various authorities, food businesses, farms and laboratories to assess the enhanced salmonella checks for exports of poultry meat and poultry and beef meat products and preparations.

UK authorities also announced that they will impose regional import restrictions when cases of bird flu are identified.The report states that Brazil has made significant progress in correcting the systemic failings that led to the UK’s imposition of enhanced salmonella controls in 2020. It notes that Brazil has changed its legislation and restructured its competent authorities to strengthen the regulatory oversight of exports and to clarify accountabilities.

The report also makes some recommendations to Brazil to further improve its food safety controls, such as contingency planning, delisting establishments, official controls, salmonella controls and laboratory testing.

Avian influenza control changes
The UK authorities also announced that they will impose regional import restrictions when cases of bird flu are identified. If some chickens get sick in a specific region of Brazil, the UK will only stop buying chickens from that area, not from the whole country. 

The control changes come a couple weeks after experts warned that the avian influenza could adapt to become more transmissible among humans. Given the “unprecedented spread” of the disease since December 2021, world health authorities are aligning to tackle the issue head on.

The World Health Organization (WHO), the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) are urging countries to take severe actions to curb the spread.

By Marc Cervera