Brazilian beef will to be banned from entering the EU from Thursday 3 September, as it is not compliant with EU food safety standards.
In May, EU member states voted on a list of non-EU countries deemed eligible to export meat to the EU. Brazil was not included on the list, as it could not prove compliance with EU restrictions on antimicrobial use in food-producing animals.
On Thursday, the list of countries which comply with EU rules for food exports will be published.
“As for Brazil, Brazil is currently not on the list at the moment. We don't have the guarantees of compliance,” a European Commission spokesperson said.
An audit is ongoing in Brazil this week into poultry and honey, with the Commission expecting it to conclude at the end of the week. The results of the audit are not expected soon, as auditors will need time to write the report and their conclusions.
However, the European Commission is still working with Brazilian authorities on access, the spokesperson said.
“We work very closely with them. We received some written guarantees for these commodities like poultry and honey. We demand the guarantees for the whole lifetime cycle of the animals. This is important.
'Not the end of the story'
“For the beef, it's not the case at the moment, but as I said, this is not the end of the story.
“We are still in touch with Brazilian authorities and we are working on that,” the spokesperson said.
The move to delist Brazil from the approved export list came a number of months after it emerged that Brazilian beef containing a banned hormone had entered the EU food chain. Some 128kg of this beef had entered the food chain in Ireland.
In October 2025, the Irish Farmers Journal and the IFA travelled to Brazil where they visited farms, agricultural supply stores and marts.
During that trip, prescription-only antibiotics were purchased over the counter without any form of identification or proof that the antibiotic was needed exposing the illegal sale of antibiotics in the Mercosur country.
Brazilian beef containing illegal hormone entered Irish food chain