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The south American beef powerhouse normally exports more than $60m of meat per day in the month of March but this fell to $74,000 on Tuesday, the country’s agriculture minister Blairo Maggi revealed on Wednesday.
Saudi Arabia has become the latest country to impose restrictions on Brazilian meat imports in the wake of the raid operations, stopping imports of chicken and beef from four plants named by Brazilian authorities as part of the investigation.
Other countries to implement restrictions and increased inspections and controls on Brazilian meat include the biggest importer China, as well as Hong Kong, Qatar, Japan, South Korea and Macua in Asia.
Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Mexico, the US and Jamaica, as well as the UK and European Union, have all announced varying measures of control and inspection of Brazilian meat imports, as have Egypt and South Africa.
Call for all-out ban
On Thursday this week, Independent MEP Marian Harkin called for an all-out ban on Brazilian meat, echoing the call of farm organisations earlier in the week.
“The fact that Brazilians have proven lax in their beef inspection regime comes as no surprise as almost 10 years ago the IFA conducted an investigation which revealed slack inspection and lack of traceability throughout the Brazilian beef industry,” she said.
“The Irish Government needs to insist that immediate and effective action be taken by the EU to ban Brazilian beef imports,” she added.
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