IFA says Brazil failing EU standards

THE number of Brazilian farms cleared to export to Europe has been reduced to 84 on the most recent list published by the European Commission, according to the Irish Farmers Association.

IFA Livestock Committee chairman Michael Doran said this is clear evidence that Brazil is not capable of meeting EU production standards on the key issues of traceability, food safety and animal health controls and foot and mouth disease.

“When the EU Commission decided to impose European standards on Brazilian producers, the Brazilian authorities originally tried to get 2,680 farms cleared.

“As farms in Brazil are not capable of meeting full EU standards, this approach completely failed and Brazil was forced to reduce the list originally down to 600 and subsequently down to 106 farms,” he said

Mr Doran said this list of 106 farms has been continuously reduced since last January, as it emerges that Brazil is not capable of meeting EU standards. The list has now been cut by 97% since it was first presented to Brussels.

This proves the Brazilian authorities, factories and ranchers are neither capable nor serious about meeting EU standards. It proves that they again tried to circumvent the standards set down by the EU Commission, he said.

Mr Doran said Brazilian beef imports to the EU have dried up at this stage with minimum volumes of 800 tonnes in April and 500 tonnes in May.