Brussels has told Brazil to “urgently and effectively” fix its control system that is meant to prevent beef tainted with hormones from entering the EU, marking the third such warning in three years.

The latest warning comes months after an EU audit on a beef farm in Brazil sparked a recall of hormone-treated Brazilian beef across EU member states, despite assurances from the South American country that a plan was in place to prevent this.

European Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare Olivér Várhelyi passed the details contained in the final audit report on to Brazilian agriculture minister Carlos Fávaro this week.

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The much-anticipated report flagged issues with Brazil’s traceability of hormone-treated cattle, ranging from farmers’ failure to present prescriptions for hormones to Brazilian inspectors' failure to note compliance issues on farms.

“The commission has requested Brazil to repair these deficiencies urgently and effectively, and we will continue to monitor the corrective actions taken by Brazil very closely,” a commission spokesperson told the Irish Farmers Journal.

Deficiencies

“Commissioner Varhelyi held a videocall with Brazilian Minister Fávaro on 25 February, to discuss how these deficiencies will be quickly and fully remedied.”

The spokesperson said that another EU audit of Brazil’s beef system is on the cards for 2026 to “check that the corrective measures are indeed in place”.

Before the turn of the year as member state support for the EU-Mercosur trade deal was on shaky ground, the commission came forward with plans to ramp up the level of inspections carried out on agri-food imports into the EU at border control posts.

Brazilian meat imports are now a particular focus of these border checks, the commission has since confirmed.

“The commission had already requested all EU border control posts to increase the frequency of physical checks on meat imported from Brazil,” the spokesperson said.

“These intensified checks will continue until the issue is resolved. The audits and the measures put in place show that our controls are effective and work.

“EU citizens are protected by some of the strictest food safety rules in the world. Our audit system ensures that products placed on the EU market comply with stringent safety requirements.”

The number of agri-food import audits to be carried out on the ground in Mercosur countries has been upped by 50%.

“The commission works closely with the veterinary and customs authorities in member states to ensure consistent high standards of controls at all border control posts,” the commission said adding that a new taskforce has been launched to improve the coordination and efficiency of these controls.