Inspectors from the UK government are to travel to Brazil for an urgent assessment of beef and poultry production standards in the South American country.
A spokesperson for the UK government confirmed to the Irish Farmers Journal that an in-country audit about antimicrobial usage will take place within the coming weeks.
In particular, the assessment is to look at how Brazil prevents food from animals that are treated with antimicrobials from entering the UK market. The UK government spokesperson indicated that the full assessment, which includes the in-country audit, will be completed by the end of November.
It comes after the EU implemented an import ban on Brazilian beef and poultry in early September, due to concerns about antimicrobial use in livestock.
London did not automatically follow Brussels on the issue and instead opted to carry out its own assessment of Brazilian standards, with imports continuing in the meantime.
With the EU market closed for at least two years, there is major concern within the local beef trade that a surge of Brazilian product could end up in the British market if a similar ban is not introduced by the UK government.
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