In a statement to the Irish Farmers Journal, the Department said it will intensify checks on Brazilian product in light of current developments.

“The Department is closely monitoring the situation through the Irish Embassy in Brazil and through ongoing contact with the European Commission”, it said.

The Department confirmed that the plants implicated in the fraud are suspended from exporting to the EU and that any consignments in transit are bring recalled.

These plants are Seara Foods Ltd and BRF SA, which export poultry products to the EU; JJZ Alimentos SA, which export beef products to the Netherlands; and Breyer & Cia Ltd, which exports the bee glue product propolis to the EU.

“The EU imposes strict hygiene and safety controls on food imports, and in particular on animal products for which documentary, identity and physical checks are compulsory for meat products imports,” the statement continued. “These are implemented here in Ireland by veterinary staff from this Department at the Border Inspection Posts. These checks will now be intensified on Brazilian product in light of current developments.”

We have very high welfare standards in the EU, and an extremely high standard in Ireland because of the Bord Bia poultry products quality assurance scheme

IFA poultry chair, Nigel Renaghan has welcomed the news of heightened controls, especially since it was revealed that mainly poultry meat has been implicated in the contaminated food scandal.

Speaking to the Irish Farmers Journal, Renaghan said that Brazilian poultry producers add meat and bonemeal to chicken feed, a practice not allowed in the EU since the BSE crisis reached its height in the 1990s.

“We have very high welfare standards in the EU, and an extremely high standard in Ireland because of the Bord Bia poultry products quality assurance scheme,” said Renaghan. “Therefore we have a much higher cost of production. We cannot compete with the likes of Brazilian poultry meat coming into Ireland which is produced at a much lower cost and therefore sold at a much lower price.”

Imported meat versus Irish meat

Although Irish supermarkets sell only 100% Irish Bord Bia Quality Assured fresh poultry meat, the majority of poultry meat sold in restaurants, delis and even butchers is imported from other countries, including Brazil. Around 3.5m fresh chickens are consumed in Ireland per week and half of this would be imported.

The poultry sector in Ireland supports around 6,000 jobs and there are some 370 producers involved in poultry meat production in Ireland. Retail sales of poultry meat in Ireland in 2016 were valued at €275m, showing an increase of over 10% on the previous year. Rivalled only by pigmeat, poultry is the single largest category of meat consumed in Ireland, accounting for some 37% of meat consumption.

Virtually all Irish poultry farms are Bord Bia quality assured. Brazil generally exports huge amounts of poultry, some 4.1m tons a year.

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