With the Brazilian meat and poultry industry making steps to recover from a bribery scandal, EU Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, Vytenis Andriukaitis, visited the country on March 27 in efforts to help restore consumer and its trade partners’ trust.
The scandal involved the sale of rotten and salmonella-tainted meat and poultry products by certain companies involved in the alleged bribery of health inspectors and politicians.
The European Commission suspended shipments to the EU by companies implicated in the fraud investigation.
China had initially banned Brazilian meat imports, but the ban was lifted March 25.
Brazil’s meat exports fell by 19 percent last week to $50.5 million a day, versus the previous week. However for the month of March as a whole, meat exports were up by 7 percent year on year at an average of $59 million a day, reflecting a strong general growth trend.
Andriukaitis visited research facilities in Rio de Janeiro and held talks with government officials and industry leaders. “In the EU we have today a very effective official control system and we will know that we will react in [a] very effective manner immediately if something will happen, and we will help Brazil to do the same,” he said.
Brazil is the world’s biggest exporter of beef and poultry.
(REUTERS)
