December 14, 2012

China ceases beef imports from Brazil

China, together with Japan and South Africa, has suspended beef imports from Brazil due a case of mad cow disease reported in the country.

"We received official notification from China and South Africa announcing the decision," said an official from Brazil's agriculture ministry who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The ministry earlier this week said the case was detected in an animal that died in 2010 in the southern state of Parana and posed "no risk whatsoever to public health or to animal hygiene."

The ministry official said Brasilia, as it did with Japan earlier this week, contacted China and South Africa to set the record straight over the atypical case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).

In its statement, the ministry said: "Brazil does not have cases of BSE" and noted that it launched a "preventive action" to preempt similar measures by key importers.

Authorities also said the World Organisation for Animal Health had been notified of the case and in response, indicated it was "maintaining Brazil's status as a country with an insignificant risk of BSE, the best existing risk classification."

From January to October, it exported one million tonnes of beef, mainly to Russia, the ministry said.

Brazil is a member of the BRICS bloc of emerging powers, which also includes China, India, Russia and South Africa.