Brazil beef sector slams critics

A Brazilian beef industry leader has hit back at Irish and British beef farmers who are highly critical of beef from Brazil.

The Irish and British beef farmers act "as if they were still in primary school, kicking and screaming to attract attention and achieve their objectives", according to Otavio Hermont Cancado, executive director of the Association of Brazilian Beef Exporters.

On Brazil's foot-and-mouth disease record, Cancado fought back by saying multiple cases of contamination of European livestock with dioxin were quickly and inexplicably solved, as with mad cow disease of which Ireland and the UK have a bad track record.

Cancado said Irish and British beef farmers have generous subsidies that completely distort the global market but have failed to achieve high quality competitive production.

The Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers Association (ICMSA) have repeatedly said that major deficiencies still exist in Brazilian beef and it should not be allowed to be traded in the EU.

A recent report published by the EU Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) suggested that the traceability issues in Brazil are getting from bad to worse, including fraudulent practices regarding tagging, movement controls and traceability, and cases of conflict of interests.