EU urged to stop beef imports from South America following Russia ban

THE EU should suspend next week’s talks with the Mercosur countries on foot of a Russian ban on beef from 27 Brazilian plants, IFA president John Bryan said.

He said the ban imposed by the Russian authorities raises further questions about imports from South America. European farm lobbyists had previously voiced anger that the Mercosur trade talks would lead to low quality imports entering the EU.

Following a two-week inspection of Brazilian meat-processing plants, the Russian authorities put restrictions on 13 meat plants, adding to the ban which had been in place on 14 plants since 2010.

Mr Bryan said: “These damning findings confirm the evidence of the lack of standards in Brazil found on the IFA and Farmers Journal missions in 2006 and 2007. There must be a full reappraisal of the EU policy on meat imports and the controls in operation in third-world countries. The EU sell-out of agriculture in Mercosur must be stopped now.”

The Russian report stated: “The inspection demonstrated a number of systemic deficiencies in the work of National Veterinary Services of Brazil. In particular, the current national programme and the plant programme require too few tests of raw meat samples and finished products for safety criteria; thus, safety of all the products produced at the plant cannot be ensured. Monitoring tests for mercury, pesticides, dioxins and radionuclides have not been conducted at the plants during the past three years.”

The report claimed that “the safety of all products produced cannot be ensured”. It added that “the situation gives reasons to doubt the reliability of the results of veterinary and sanitary inspections at the plants”.

Mr Bryan said the conclusions are extremely serious and must be taken on board by the EU Commission, the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. He said he would be raising the issues at a meeting in the European Parliament next Monday.