EU urged to ban beef imports from South America

EU is urged to suspend next week's talks with the Mercosur countries due to a Russian beef ban on 27 Brazilian plants, Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) president John Bryan said.

Bryan said the ban imposed by the Russian authorities raises further questions about imports from South America. European farm lobbyists had previously voiced that the Mercosur trade talks would lead to low quality meat imports entering the EU.

Following a two-week inspection of Brazilian meat-processing plants, the Russian authorities put restrictions on 13 meat plants, adding to the list of ban which had been in place on 14 plants since 2010.

"These findings confirm the evidence of the lack of standards in Brazil found on the IFA and Farmers Journal missions in 2006 and 2007. There must be a full reappraisal of the EU policy on meat imports and the controls in operation in third-world countries. The EU sell-out of agriculture in Mercosur must be stopped now," said Bryan.

The Russian report said, "The inspection demonstrated a number of systemic deficiencies in the work of National Veterinary Services of Brazil. In particular, the current national programme and the plant programme require too few tests of raw meat samples and finished products for safety criteria; thus, safety of all the products produced at the plant cannot be ensured."

Bryan said the conclusions are serious and must be taken on board by the EU Commission, the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament. He said he would be raising the issues at a meeting in the European Parliament next Monday (May 2).