US senator proposes suspension of Brazilian beef imports

American senator Jon Tester (Democrat) has presented a bill to suspend beef imports from Brazil. The congressman alleges that the Brazilian authorities were slow to notify the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) about the two cases of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), also known as “mad cow disease”, confirmed in September.

According to him, Brazil took much longer to inform the OIE about the cases than other countries that faced the same problem. “On September 3, 2021, Brazil announced two cases of atypical BSE detected in June of the same year. Most countries report similar cases immediately. This year, the United Kingdom and Germany reported cases a few days after their occurrence,” he said in a statement.

See below a history of Brazilian beef exports to the United States. Data are from DataLiner:

Brazilian Beef Exports (HS 0202) to the US | Apr 2020 to Sept 2021 | WTMT

Source: DataLiner (click here to request a demo)

The senator alleges that the delay generated a “breach of confidence”. “This has been a routine occurrence. Brazil also waited months or even years to report similar cases in 2019, 2014, and 2012 ”, he added.

Under this argument, the congressman calls in his bill for an embargo on imports until specialists can conduct a “systematic review of product safety”. It is worth remembering that after notifying the notification to the OIE, in September, the agency concluded a few days later that the risk of contamination of the Brazilian herd was “insignificant”.

“While rare and unique cases of atypical BSE do not necessarily indicate systemic problems with the health of the Brazilian cattle herd, repeated delays in reporting suggest an excessively lax food safety regime and raise concerns about reporting additional dangerous diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease, African swine fever, and avian flu,” Tester concluded.

Source: Valor Econômico

To read the full original article, visit the link:

https://valor.globo.com/agronegocios/noticia/2021/11/18/senador-dos-eua-propoe-suspensao-de-compras-de-carne-brasileira.ghtml

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