IFA National Livestock Chairman Angus Woods said the latest report from DG Sante proves that Brazil is still failing to meet EU standards on beef.
He said the FVO report is very clear in highlighting the fact that Brazil is in total breach of EU regulations by allowing factory staff carry out post-mortem inspections for beef exported into Europe. He said this would be illegal in the EU.
Angus Woods said the EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis cannot allow the Commission to continue to ‘bury their heads in the sand and ignore the findings of their vets on the failures of Brazil to meet EU standards’.
In addition, he said this report should be another wake-up call for Commissioner Malmstrom to immediately withdraw beef from the Mercosur negotiations.
Angus Woods said the FVO reports states that out of the 53 beef plants cleared for export to the EU, the Brazilians have only 187 official veterinary staff and 761 factory staff performing post-mortem inspections for beef exports to Europe. The report also highlights that these staff are paid directly by the factories, many which were involved in the high profile Weak Flesh corruption scandal last year.
The FVO report also highlights the breach in EU regulations in Brazil over their failure to properly de-list non-compliant meat plants.
Angus Woods said this latest report from Brazil is a follow up on the 2017 FVO report which exposed the failure of the official controls on beef by Brazilian authorities.
The EU Commission has completed its latest audit and found that ‘targets were not met in certain States’.
