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 23 mar 2017 19:13 

Stronger action against Brazilian meat imports to EU after export scandal


Copa and Cogeca sent a letter to the EU Commission today calling for stronger action to be taken against Brazilian meat imports to the EU after the scandal which emerged there.

Speaking in Brussels, Copa and Cogeca Secretary-General Pekka Pesonen said “It is not acceptable to have these kind of fraud cases emerging where export certificates have been falsified for ten years or more and veterinary requirements not complied with. This is not the first time that the Brazilian authorities are facing fraud. Unfortunately, we have not seen sufficient corrective measures put in place. Effective action must be taken to prevent it from happening again.”

“Copa and Cogeca strongly support the European Commission’s decision to reject the European veterinary certificate for meat imports from the four Brazilian sites affected by food fraud. But this decision does not go far enough to prevent such a situation from happening again. We need to recognise that the missions carried out by the Food and Veterinary Office (FVO) and the controls undertaken at EU borders have been unable to detect the weaknesses in the Brazilian food safety system which have apparently being going on for more than ten years”, he added.
Copa and Cogeca consequently call on the Commission to closely monitor the steps taken by the Brazilian authorities to ensure that no other production sites have the same problem, and to draw up a road map for addressing such fraud in the future. The Commission must ensure that imports to the EU meet the high EU standards. European farmers and their cooperatives cannot afford to lower EU food safety standards or put EU consumer confidence at risk due to fraud in non-EU countries. Moreover, they are committed to EU production standards which in the case of beef provide full individual traceability of cattle throughout the animals lifetime. This is the only way to ensure the proper implementation of food safety standards. “Copa and Cogeca refuse to allow double standards in food safety for meat to be applied vis a vis imports on the EU single market”, he insisted.

“Brazil’s failure to apply and monitor EU-equivalent food safety standards for meat also raises serious concerns about the ongoing trade talks between the EU and Latin American trade bloc Mercosur. In beef, we reiterate our calls to implement the full individual traceability scheme for cattle throughout its lifetime. We believe that this scheme is a prerequisite for the next stages of the Mercosur trade negotiations”, he stressed.

European farmers have made a major effort over the decades to improve traceability along the chain, from day one of an animal’s life right through to the slaughterhouse, carrying the financial burden of meeting consumer demands and maintaining consumer confidence. We call on the Commission to launch a promotion campaign to raise awareness of the high EU production standards for specialised beef production in the EU. This is the only tool available which can maintain European consumer confidence in red meat, he concluded.

 



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