Food safety experts call for tougher EU oversight after Brazil audit
Dr Patrick Wall highlighted the system designed to guarantee beef exported to the EU had never been treated with the prohibited hormone oestradiol17b was ‘ineffective’.
Serious questions are being raised about the Mercosur trade deal after food safety and microbiology experts warned Ireland’s strict regulatory regime was not being matched by controls in South American exporting countries.
The analysis, collated by the All‑Ireland Science Media Centre, highlighted recent EU audit findings and a December recall of Brazilian beef in Ireland have intensified farmers’ concerns.
Dr Patrick Wall, emeritus professor at the UCD Institute for Food and Health, said EU farmers operated under a “precautionary” regime, where hormones and antibiotic growth promoters are banned, and where pesticides and veterinary medicines are tightly controlled.
While these prohibitions also apply to imports, he said, assurances from some Mercosur countries are not always reliable.
He pointed to a 2024 European Commission audit of Brazil, which found the system designed to guarantee beef exported to the EU had never been treated with the prohibited hormone oestradiol‑17β was “ineffective”.
According to the audit, Brazilian authorities could not “reliably attest” EU requirements were being met.
“This is evidence that the system guarantees can fail,” Dr Wall said.
Dr Gavin Collins, microbiologist at the University of Galway, said concerns around antimicrobial resistance (AMR) were particularly acute. While Ireland’s National Veterinary Prescription System tightly controls antibiotic access and record‑keeping, reports from some Mercosur countries indicate easier or even illegal access to veterinary antibiotics.
“Irish farmers are now operating under seriously stringent systems,” he said. “The concern is obvious: they could be critically disadvantaged by differential enforcement of AMR‑related regulations.”
The issue has been further heightened by a real-world incident.
Dr Sinéad Waters, also of the University of Galway, said a prohibited growth hormone was detected in Brazilian beef that reached Ireland in December, prompting a product recall.
“These anxieties were realised,” she said. “This shows the risks are not hypothetical.”
Dr Waters added Irish farmers were being asked to meet the EU’s most demanding environmental and welfare standards while competing against imports from systems with weaker oversight.
The experts warn if the Mercosur deal progresses, the EU will need to significantly increase audit intensity, laboratory capacity and targeted border checks to ensure compliance. Without this, they warn, the burden of high standards will continue to fall disproportionately on Irish and EU farmers.
