January 26, 2012

USDA lifts ban on Brazilian pork

The USDA has removed the ban on Brazilian pork imports after 18 months of talks over sanitary standards, the National Pork Producers Council (NPPC) announced.

USDA agreed to recognise Brazilian inspectors as qualified to approve slaughterhouses in the state of Santa Catarina. To date, USDA has approved six processing plants to export pork to the US. In 2010, USDA recognised Santa Catarina as free of foot-and-mouth disease, leading to approval of the processing plants.

NPPC supports the principle of regionalisation and agrees to the recognition of Santa Catarina as free of foot-and-mouth disease and other swine diseases such as Classical Swine Fever.

However, NPPC strongly believes that the US' trade relationship with Brazil should be a reciprocal one and that as the US does, Brazil must maintain sanitary and phytosanitary policies that are based on sound science and legitimate health-related concerns.

NPPC continues to be concerned with and frustrated by Brazil's unjustifiable trichinosis-related import restrictions on US pork. The incidence of trichinosis in the US - one in 300 million - and the very high level of biosecurity practiced by the US pork industry proves there is no valid, science-based reason for import restrictions on US pork.

In 2010, Brazil exported 726,000 tonnes of pork valued at US$1.65 billion.