Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply has announced that it has temporarily suspended beef exports to China following the discovery of an atypical case of BSE in a 17-year-old cow in the Mato Grosso province. This is the agreed protocol with China following the resumption of Brazilian exports of beef to China in 2015 to enable the Chinese authorities to undertake their own evaluation.

According to Meat and Livestock Australia figures, China imported 334,000t of beef from Brazil in the 12 months to the end of March 2019 making Brazil China’s biggest beef supplier. Currently, there are 16 beef processing facilities approved to supply China and the Brazilian government has requested approval for additional factories.

There are seven Irish beef factories approved to export to China with 12 further factories requesting approval, which are due to be inspected by Chinese authorities in August.

Chinese inspectors were in Northern Ireland last week as part of the approval process for UK beef exporters as well.