Brazilian authorities have arrested the former chief executive of BRF, the world’s largest poultry exporter based in Sao Paulo, as police reignited their investigations into the Brazilian meat industry.

Pedro Faria, the company’s CEO from 2015 to 2017, was arrested on Monday this week along with other former executives of the Brazilian company. Federal police say that senior officers in BRF had cheated food inspections and safety checks.

The police investigation into Brazil’s meat industry, which is known as Operation Weak Flesh, came to light in March last year amid allegations of meat exporters selling corrupted meat and bribing government officials.

Shares in BRF plunged almost 20% on the Sao Paulo stock exchange in the wake of the arrests.

Brazil’s Agriculture Ministry has said it will temporarily halt all meat exports from any meat processing plants targeted in the probe into BRF.

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