Imports of meat from Brazil will in future be subjected not only to physical checks for 100% of consignments at points of entry to the EU, but also to targeted microbiological controls on a sample of 20% of consignments, the European Commission announced on the evening of Wednesday 29 March (see EUROPE 11757).
The representatives of the member states and the European Commission reached consensus on this subject on Wednesday at the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (PAFF). The meeting was entirely given over to the requirement to harmonise reinforced official controls already in force in the member states, as called for by the Chief Veterinary Officers of the member states, in response to the scandal of rotten Brazilian meat that may have ended up on the European market (see EUROPE 11757).
If a case of suspect meat is identified, the member state in question must immediately notify the Commission and other states via TRACE (Trade Control and Expert System), a system of electronic veterinary certificates to be used by operators in the framework of intra-community trade in live animals and certain products of animal origin, and via the Rapid Alert System for Food and Feed (RASFF).
All suspect consignments will be returned to Brazil or destroyed. These measures will be regularly reviewed by the committee in light of the results of these checks, audits to be carried out by the Commission services up to mid-May and the assurances to be provided by the Brazilian authorities as to the reliability and independence of their official checks – in response to the request made by European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Vytenis Andriukaitis, who is currently in Brazil.
So far, no cases of rotten meat from Brazil, either poultry or beef, have been detected in the EU. This may be explained by the fairly small volumes of Brazilian meat imported to the EU. The Netherlands is the largest importer (80% of imports), followed by Spain, Italy (30,000 tonnes in 2016) and, to a lesser extent, France. Only one consignment, which was summarily inspected in Italy, has been returned to Brazil as a precaution.
Under normal circumstances, all consignments of meat and meat-based products from Brazil are systematically subjected to veterinary checks at the Border Inspection Posts (BIPs), pursuant to Directive 97/78/EC, which lays down the principles on the organisation of checks for products from third countries, the Commission reiterates.
Any control revealing non-compliance with the strict standards in force in the EU immediately triggers an automatic alert subjecting all consignments of the same product from the same establishment in Brazil to reinforced controls.
As the Commission will not be harmonising controls on Brazilian meat already on the market, France has announced that it will verify that fresh meat entering shops presents all health and safety guarantees for consumers. Italy will also carry out checks, as will Slovakia, a major transit country.
Andriukaitis will brief the Agriculture Council in Luxembourg on Monday 3 April on his meeting with the Brazilian agriculture minister. In Strasbourg that evening, he will answer an oral question from MEP Éric Andrieu (S&D, France), coordinator for agricultural questions and substitute member of the parliamentary committee on trade, regarding fraudulent practices in the Brazilian meat sector, which, he argues, call for a European embargo on all meat from Brazil. "In the short term, this massive fraud directly threatens the health of European consumers and in the medium term, it could backfire on the whole sector, starting with our own producers!", said Andrieu, who is circumspect about negotiations for a free-trade deal with Mercosur. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang with Jan Kordys)