Brazil progress on contaminants

MUCH progress has been made in Brazil’s control of residues and contaminants in animal products, said the EU’s Food and Veterinary Office in last week’s report of a 10-day inspection mission in Brazil at the start of March.

All previously identified deficiencies, compared to EU requirements, have been addressed, said the FVO.

Inspectors found residue testing was completed satisfactorily in 2006 for honey, imports of which to the EU were banned in March, 2006 because of pesticide residues.

Private labs were successfully used to test honey, but implementation of residue testing in other exports — for example, tests for residues in cattle of topical chemicals for ectoparasites — is not yet complete.

FVO inspectors said there is now a requirement to keep medicine controls for cattle eligible for export to the EU.

Brazilian authorities have worked hard and committed substantial resources to rectify deficiencies in residue and veterinary medicine controls, according to the FVO.

In 2006, Brazil sent 322,982 tonnes of beef, 351,479 tonnes of poultry meat, 14,000 tonnes of horsemeat, 31,350 tonnes of shrimps, 117 tonnes of eggs, and 77,393 live animals to the EU.