The European Parliament’s agriculture committee delegation will be in Brazil from Monday 2 to Friday 6 April to assess the health situation in the Brazilian meat sector, which has been the subject of shocking scandals such as the enormous fraudulent rotten meat marketing network uncovered and dismantled in Spring 2017 (see EUROPE 11751).
Before a possible investigation committee is set up at the European Parliament, members of this parliamentary committee, which includes 11 MEPs (including the chairperson of the agriculture committee, Czesław Adam Siekierski (EPP, Poland), Michel Dantin (EPP, France) and Eric Andrieu (S&D), are due to hold meetings with the Brazilian authorities. One meeting with the Brazilian Minister for Agriculture, Blairo Maggi, is due to examine the health situation in the Brazilian meat sector and visit an abattoir and cattle breeding centres in the state of Mato Grosso.
The aim of this parliamentary audit is also to carry out checks in the field regarding the accuracy of the information provided in this area by the European Commission services in charge of food safety.
This mission is also taking place in the context of the negotiations on the trade section of the EU and Mercosur (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) association agreement, which were relaunched in 2016 and are due to resume very shortly (see EUROPE 11973, 11985). (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)