Having been alerted to the large-scale fraud involving tainted Brazilian meat that may have been exported to the EU, the Commission is in permanent contact with Brazilian authorities but it gave reassurances on Monday 20 March that, for the moment, no alert has been raised in the EU.
“The Commission is aware of the investigation in Brazil. As soon as the story came out on Friday the Commission asked for clarification and action from the Brazilian authorities and intensive diplomatic contacts took place over the weekend. The Commission is following the situation very closely with the member states and we remain extra vigilant with the mandatory checks on imports of animal products. Until now, there have been no specific alerts in the EU”, spokesperson Enrico Brivio told the press.
When asked to indicate the scale of the potential threat on the European market, he offered reassurance: “It involves poultry. It would seem that only a very small proportion of the tainted meat was exported”. He added: “We are in constant contact with the Brazilian authorities. We asked them on Friday to clarify that any establishments implicated in the fraud are suspended from exporting to the EU”.
The health scandal in Brazil casts shadows over a number of companies, including JBS, the world’s largest beef producer, which is suspected of having for years marketed, including on the export market, meat that is unfit for human consumption after using chemicals to improve the appearance.
The free-trade agreement negotiated between the EU and Mercosur, a second spokesperson said, will cover trade in agricultural products and will contain “food and feed sanitary measures for all imports”, which will have to comply with EU law.
For meat from Brazil to be brought into the EU, it must be imported by authorised companies which are required to comply with the very strict standards imposed by EU food legislation. It is the Brazilian authorities which carry out the checks and issue the authorisations. In the EU, checks on imported goods are conducted by the appropriate national authorities.
Any suspect food detected in a member state must be flagged up to the Commission and the other member states through the rapid alert system for food and feed (RASFF). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)