IFA Livestock Committee Chairman Andrew Boylan said the EU Commission must strengthen its resolve against Brazilian beef, which fails to meet essential EU standards in respect of traceability, food safety, animal health, disease and environmental controls.

In a statement following reports that the Brazilian Agriculture Minister Wagner Rossi failed to secure any changes on EU imports after meetings with EU Commission officials in Brussels last week. Mr Boylan said, “The EU Commission cannot allow the Brazilian Minister for Agriculture dictate the standards for European consumers and producers.” He added that the Brazilian Minister was demanding that the EU handover the management on the list of approved farmers for import into the EU to the Brazilian Government. He said this is totally unacceptable as several FVO reports prove that in the past the Brazilian authorities have repeatedly failed to ensure beef exports to Europe meet EU standards.

Mr Boylan said instead of giving in to the Brazilian demands to reduce and overlook standards, the EU Commission must strength its resolve against the failure of Brazilian beef to meet EU standards. He added that the EU Commission must be very strong and bluntly tell the Brazilians that European consumers and producers are not prepared to tolerate double standards when it comes to beef imports. The IFA Livestock Chairman said the EU Commission can no longer ignore the massive environmental damage from the destruction of the rainforests associated with increased beef exports from Brazil. He said any move to accept more beef imports from Brazil was in direct contradiction to the EU policy on climate change and protecting the environment.