São Paulo – The Ministry of Agriculture is going to send delegations to countries that imposed some kind of restriction to Brazilian beef since the ministry itself revealed, in December 2012, that the agent that causes Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE), also known as mad cow disease, had been identified in a cow in Paraná state, which died in 2010. The animal died without developing the disease.
According to a press statement disclosed on Thursday (14), three delegations of technicians from the ministry should travel abroad between February 28 and March 22. Apart from the nations to receive the delegations, Chile and Peru had called for detailed information on the case and, according to the ministry, expectations are for the restrictions to be cancelled in the near future.
The Agricultural Defence secretary, Ênio Marques, and the director of the Animal Health Department, Guilherme Marques, should visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman starting on February 28th. The team that includes the director of the Sanitary and Phytossanitary Negotiation Department, Lino Colsera, and by the joint coordinator for Disease Control, Carlos Pizarro, should head to Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Kuwait. The Foreign Relations secretary at the ministry, Célio Porto, and the general coordinator for Disease Control, Denise Mariano da Costa, in turn, should travel to Japan, China and South Africa from March 18th to 22nd.
The trips by the delegations do not contemplate other countries that embargoed the Brazilian product, as is the case with Belarus, South Korea and Taiwan.
The Ministry’s decision was announced three days after the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) maintaining Brazilian beef risk at “insignificant”. The report was disclosed after government technicians were questioned by the OIE, from February 4th to 8th, in Paris.
In a press statement, the OIE recognizes that Brazil proceeded adequately in disposing of the animal and avoiding that its parts entered the feed chain. But the institution added that the country took too long to disclose the case and asked Brazil to improve the monitoring of its herds. The institution also stated that it should receive additional information about the country in the next meeting to take place at the institution, in September.
In the press statement of the Ministry of Agriculture, secretary Célio Porto stated that technical visits are important to re-establish “trade relations”. According to the ministry, despite the embargo, exports of Brazilian beef are on the rise. In January, they totalled US$ 409.2 million, 36% more than in the same period in 2012.
*Translated by Mark Ament
