MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

EU farmers lobby for ban on Brazilian meat imports

EU concerns about full safety

The European Union may resort to a ban on Brazilian meat imports if the country does not improve food safety standards, the European Union's health chief said on Tuesday addressing members of the European Parliament.

"We do identify weaknesses in Brazil and we have put pressure on Brazil to respond" said European Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou. "If the situation does not improve in the timeframe, which is by the end of the year, we will take whatever measures necessary, including the possibility of a ban," he said, reiterating a previous warning of tough action. EU experts will travel to Brazil next month to carry out an assessment to see if Brazil has complied with Brussels' request. European farm groups, most notably Irish and British farmers, have been pressing the European Commission to get tough with their competitors in Brazil for what they say are substandard conditions. Kyprianou said he would not hesitate "to take any measures necessary, no matter how it affects trade, if it affects the health of EU citizens". The Brazilian government and the country's farming industry deny the claims of use of illegal growth hormones and say Brazil is implementing the recommendations of EU animal health officials who visited the country in March. Following a heated discussion in July, most of the European Parliament's agriculture committee backed their calls for a ban on meat imports from the world's biggest beef exporter. The MEPs decision was based on a report by Irish and British farmers which claimed that Brazilian ranchers did not meet the kind of standards required for EU farmers. While accepting there are failures by Brazil, Kyprianou dismissed the claims of Irish farmers, who he said were acting "in self-interest". Irish farmers have long been protected by high import tariffs, as well as EU subsidies, and they say a deal at the World Trade Organisation could cost them 2.7 billion US dollars a year in lost exports. "How long is Kyprianou going to wait and see if Brazil reacts? Meanwhile European consumers continue to eat meat which could be harmful," said MEP Liam Aylward, a member of Ireland's ruling Fianna Fail Party. Kyprianou said: "We don't accept the conclusions of the Irish farmers' report. We have to give Brazil time you cannot jump the gun by rushing into a ban." The Brazilian meat industry which is rapidly becoming global recently acquired Swift in the United States and has purchased several abattoirs and meat packing plants in Uruguay and Argentina. In Uruguay which has a long record of food health and safety transparency with access to the world's leading markets has seen half of its meat industry fall into the hands of Brazilian investors.