December 6, 2007

China officials in Brazil for beef inspection

Members of the Chinese Official Veterinary Agency, AQSIQ, will be in Brazil from December 10 to December 20 to talk with beef processing companies in four states, the Agriculture Ministry said on Wednesday (December 5, 2007).

The veterinarians will inspect beef packing plants in Santa Catarina, Rio Grande do Sul, Acre and Roraima states, said Marcio Rezende, coordinator of regional and bilateral accords at the Animal Health and Safety Department of Brazil's Agriculture Ministry.

Company names were not provided.

Last week, Brazil and China agriculture officials met at the High Level Food Safety Forum in Beijing. There, both governments signed a draft protocol on matters related to animal health inspection, quarantine and sanitary requirements for pork imports and exports between the two countries. Rezende said that the draft protocol would be formalized at the second reunion of the China-Brazil High Level Cooperation Commission meeting, currently planned to occur sometime in March 2008.

Rezende said there is no date planned at this time for pork facility inspections by the Chinese.

Brazil is the world's leading beef and chicken exporter, but pork exports are mainly dependent on Russia alone.

Although some beef and chicken facilities of some Brazilian food companies have been permitted to export frozen meat to China, exports to that country have yet to take off.

Beef and chicken exports don't register on the list of the top 100 items Brazil ships to China, according to local Foreign Trade Ministry trade figures.