May 18, 2007

UK beef producers call total ban on Brazilian beef over FMD

British beef producers are urging the authorities to immediately impose a ban on beef from Brazil due to the increasing case of foot-and-mouth-disease in the country.

Farmers' Union of Wales (FUW) vice president Eifion Huws expressed amazement why a total ban on Brazilian beef is not yet in place.  He said Brazil has exported 333,000 tonnes of beef last year to the EU and in the first two months of this year the UK imported 4,951 tonnes from Brazil, which suggests that UK has already imported a total of 30,000 tonnes in 2006.

The FUW said the massive Brazilian foot-and-mouth-disease (FMD) vaccination programme involving more than 120 million cattle is a "warning" that FMD was more serious than the government has believed.

EU has already warned cautioned Brazil that it will totally restrict on its beef exports by the end of the year unless standards of welfare, traceability and residue testing match those of Europe.

An EU veterinary mission to Brazil in March reported that, while some progress has been made since a previous inspection, there are still several concerns, especially on animal health and the control and use of vaccines.

A ban on imports from three provinces in Brazil has been effective since October 2005, largely as a result of a major outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. The three provinces, Mato Grosso do Sul, Parana, and Sao Paulo, accounted for 60 percent of Brazilian exports of beef.

The ban would have resulted to a major decline for Brazil's beef trade with EU but the FUW said only a drop of five percent was registered by Brazil beef exports to Europe in 2006.