Banned hormones detected in imported beef from Brazil

Hormones banned for use in the EU have been confirmed in a Brazilian beef shipment, which has subsequently been recalled

A shipment of Brazilian beef has tested positive for hormones, which are banned for use in the EU.

A shipment of imported beef from Brazil has tested positive for banned hormones and has been recalled.

The recall follows banned hormones found in Brazilian beef shipments recently arrived in Europe. The contaminated products were widely distributed across the EU and the UK, including Northern Ireland.

Irish Cattle and Sheep Association (ICSA) president Seán McNamara said he was appalled but not surprised by the imports testing positive for banned hormones.

“The EU has spent years and billions telling people to eat healthy food and ensuring consumers can trust the safety of what’s on the shelf. What’s the point of all that if they now allow in beef that doesn’t meet even the most basic EU rules?

"This recall shows clearly that the EU cannot police how beef is produced in Brazil or any other South American country, which is why beef must be removed from the Mercosur deal altogether,” he said.

Mr McNamara said the European Commission could not knowingly put food on European shelves that would be illegal to produce here.

“That is hypocrisy, pure and simple. If the deal is not scrapped altogether, then at the very minimum, beef and poultry must be taken out of it completely.

If this is what is already slipping through, the EU shouldn’t be allowing any Brazilian beef on our shelves, let alone opening the door to more under Mercosur.

Mr McNamara said European farmers were doing everything that was asked of them on animal health, traceability, food safety and antimicrobial resistance, efforts he said South American beef production did not meet.

“The commission cannot just ignore this reality. They are obliged at this point to protect consumers, protect public health, and protect the family farms that uphold these standards every day. That has to come before any trade deal,” he added.

Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) president Denis Drennan said this incident was just “a taste of what’s to come” if the Mercosur trade agreement was to go ahead.

“Everyone should remember what’s just happened and what it illustrates. The idea that these beef systems are just going to change overnight and suddenly discover proper regulated standards and traceability is frankly delusional. This is an entirely different beef production system from the EU”, he said.

Mr Drennan dismissed what he said was the careful campaign to downplay the significance of the beef imports any agreement would entail.

“We need to remember that these are not going to be just your cheaper, lower value cuts of beef; they will be higher value steaks products undermining sustainably produced beef in the EU and pushing our beef out of the premium markets that we have worked so hard to get into,” he said.

“ICMSA has said it before, but it bears repeating: If Mercosur proceeds, then that places a ‘full stop’ after all that the EU has done or said in terms of environmentally sensitive farming and emissions lowering. That’s the end of it; it won’t be possible for the EU to mention this again without everyone involved highlighting the complete contradiction.”