U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue met his counterpart from Brazil on Monday to discuss the U.S. ban on fresh beef imports from Brazil. Perdue said the U.S. needs to see more progress from Brazil on beef inspections before the ban would be lifted. A Cattle Network Dot Com article says the ban went into effect on June 22nd as the U.S. said a high percentage of beef imports from Brazil did not pass safety checks. American inspections found abscesses on meat from Brazil, which Brazilian farmers claimed were linked to foot-and-mouth disease vaccinations. Back in March, Brazilian meatpacking companies were hit with a scandal involving bribes paid to meat inspectors, which in turn halted Brazil’s protein shipments to many of the largest markets in the world. Perdue says the Brazilian Ag Secretary pushed for a timeline to restore beef imports, but Perdue also said that would depend on progress made by Brazil. The South American nation has been selling beef to the U.S. since they signed an agreement in 2016, ending 17 years’ worth of discussions about Brazilian imports. Beef shipments to the United States represent three percent of Brazil’s totals exports.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting News Service.