February 24, 2023
Brazil suspends exports of beef to China
Carlos Favaro, Brazil's Agriculture Minister, said they have suspended beef exports to China after detecting a case of mad cow disease in the country, but experts believe it is the less-dangerous "atypical" variant, The Straits Times reported.
Under an agreement signed between both countries, exports are immediately suspended if authorities detect the disease, known as bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE).
China's is Brazil's biggest beef export market.
The disease had been detected in a nine-year-old male animal on a small farm in the northern state of Para, according to a statement from Brazil's Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply.
Samples have been sent to the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) in Canada for testing.
If contaminated meat is consumed, BSE is linked to the fatal human condition Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.
The atypical variant of BSE sporadically affects older cattle, while the classic form of BSE is spread when farmers feed their herds the meat and bone meal of infected animals.
Favaro said that because the farm in question raised grass-fed cattle, the case was likely atypical BSE.
He said the farm in question was quarantined, and the animal had been slaughtered and incinerated.
Brazilian industry association Abrafrigo said Brazil exported 2.3 million tonnes of beef last year for a total of US$13.1 billion.
- The Straits Times