EU ban on Brazilian beef welcomed

MEAT factories have been urged to start paying “a decent price” to farmers for Irish beef following the European Commission decision to impose a total ban on Brazilian imports from today.

Michael Creed TD (FG) said the ban was good news for consumers who have a right to know the beef they buy is produced to the highest standards and for farmers forced to compete with Brazilian beef producers who do not comply with the same rules.

TD Seán Sherlock (Lab) said the EU decision was a great victory for Ireland’s 100,000 beef farmers after a sustained campaign to highlight the poor traceability and tagging of Brazilian beef imports.

However, Brazil’s ambassador to Ireland Stélio Marcos Amarante said on RTÉ Radio that technically the EU decision is not a ban. There was a suspension of the publication of the list of the Brazilian farms allowed to send meat to Europe.

“Then it is just a temporary suspension because the EU had an expectation that Brazil would be able to present a list of only 300 farms that would comply with its requests on traceability.

Mr Amarante said Brazil had in fact presented a list of 2,500 farms that comply with the EU requests. He could not say when Brazilian beef would be back on Europe’s market.

It depends on negotiations between Brazil’s Minister for Agriculture and the EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou, he said.