Dive Brief:
- Growing food safety concerns have prompted the U.S. Department of Agriculture to halt all imports of fresh beef from Brazil, according to Food Manufacturing.
- Last Thursday’s decision comes several months after a meatpacking scandal where inspectors reportedly took bribes to allow sales of tainted food. Since March, U.S. inspectors have refused entry to 11% of Brazilian fresh beef products, a figure “substantially higher than the rejection rate of 1% of shipments from the rest of the world," according to a statement by the USDA.
- The suspension remains in place indefinitely until the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture takes corrective action that the USDA deems satisfactory.
Dive Insight:
The USDA's decision to ban Brazilian beef imports follows months of questionable supply that came to the U.S. from producers in the South American country. According to a USDA press release, the Food Safety and Inspection Service has refused U.S. entry to about 1.9 million pounds of Brazilian beef products in recent months due to public health concerns, sanitary conditions and animal health issues.
Brazil-based JBS, the world's largest meat packing company, has been embroiled in controversy in its home country and worldwide for much of 2017. In March, Brazilian authorities began inspections of JBS plants after the scandal, indicating meatpackers may have bribed inspectors and officials to get rotting and contaminated meat on the market.
Fortunately for American consumers, none of the bad beef ever entered the U.S. market. Furthermore, the U.S. is not a major importer of Brazilian beef since most of America's beef is produced domestically. Still, the USDA’s recent move is likely to cause reverberations across the world’s beef industry, particularly in European and Asian nations that are major Brazilian beef importers. In May, the European Union conducted an audit of Brazil's beef industry that found serious problems with the country's inspection process, prompting the coalition to place restrictions on imports of Brazilian beef. The E.U. has demanded Brazil improve its safety protocols or face further restrictions.
Failure to comply with these demands and address concerns involving corruption could exact a hefty toll on Brazil's economy. In addition to its beef supply, the country is also a leading producer of poultry and veal products.
The U.S. could benefit from these increased restrictions. China, which continues to accept Brazilian beef after briefly banning imports, could increase supply from the U.S. following last month's agreement between the two nations to resume beef exports.
U.S. consumers, meanwhile, shouldn't see prices increase since Brazilian supply to America is limited. That's great news as producers and retailers head into high season for summer grilling.