Agência Brasil*
Brasília – Brazilian coffee is going to undergo a new process of identification and qualification of grain and of the ground product. A decree published today (25) by the Secretariat for Agricultural Defence at the Ministry of Agriculture is starting a public consultation regarding technical regulation of the new rules.
The measures to establish an official quality standard take into consideration green and roasted coffee and include decaf. Aroma, fragrance, viscosity and acidity are among the characteristics that may be evaluated.
"The goal is to define the official standard of roasted coffee grains and of roasted and ground coffee grains, with quality and identity requirements, sampling, mode of presentation and marking or labelling, the aspects refer to product classification," explains the text published in the Official Gazette.
Technically based opinions about the project should be sent to the Ministry of Agriculture in up to 60 days.
Per capita consumption of coffee in Brazil reached 74 litres per year in 2007, according to the Brazilian Coffee Industry Association (Abic). This level is close to that for Germany and Italy, which are among the main consumers in the world. The domestic market answers to 14% of the global demand. The last national crop was 33.7 million bags.
*Translated by Mark Ament
