June 28, 2007

UK and French farm organisations up pressure to ban Brazilian beef
 

The movement to ban Brazilian beef from the EU is gaining momentum in the UK, France and Ireland, said Irish Farmers Association(IFA) National Livestock Committee Chairman John Bryan.

Farm organisations in both the UK and France fully support a ban on Brazilian beef, he said.

The new Agriculture Minister in the Scottish Executive, Richard Lochhead has expressed his concerns of Brazilian beef, which failed to meet EU standards and has written to the EU Commission on the matter.

Bryan said serious pressure is now emerging on the EU Commission to apply further restrictions on Brazil.

Brazil's complete lack of traceability, movement controls or disease controls meant that the regionalisation policy adopted by the EU Commission has no basis whatsoever.

Brazilian beef has failed EU standards and were still being imported into the EU while other countries such as Japan, South Korea and Australia have bans on Brazilian beef to some degree.