A guarantee cannot be given that Brazilian beef imports to the EU are from hormone-free animals, a new report has found.

The report from the European Commission shows that Brazil cannot prove its beef supplied to the EU market is not treated with oestradiol 17ß. Cattle treated with Oestradiol 17ß cannot be slaughtered for the EU market.

Since 1981, the EU has prohibited the use of substances having a hormonal action for growth promotion in farm animals. On the Commission’s website, oestradiol 17ß is included in examples of these kind of growth promoters.

The report said while national legislation on this is broadly similar between the EU and Brazil: “The current arrangements in place to guarantee that cattle, meat from which is destined for the EU market, have never been treated with oestradiol 17ß for zootechnical or therapeutic purposes, are ineffective,” the report found.

It added that as a result Brazilian authorities cannot attest to the “reliability of operators’ sworn statements on non-use of oestradiol 17ß in cattle."

The report continued that the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture “is not in a position to reliably attest to operator compliance” with this section of the EU health certificate for bovine meat exports to the bloc.

No on-farm treatment records

The report in question is based on an audit of Brazil carried out from 27 May to 14 June 2024 as part of the European Commission's Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety’s planned work programme.

It also found that livestock farms in Brazil are not legally required to keep on-farm treatment records and controls on the use of veterinary medicinal products on farms are not carried out.

Veterinary medicinal products containing oestradiol 17ß require a veterinary prescription in Brazil. However, the information to be recorded in the prescription is not defined and the prescription does not need to be retained on the farm, the report said.

It also showed that while there are “some shortcomings in analytical method validation and room for improvement in the operation of the internal quality control system”, most analytical methods are of a standard to “allow the competent authority to have confidence in the analytical results provided by the laboratory network."

Reaction

Following the report’s publication, Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) president Francie Gorman called for the EU to immediately stop imports of beef from Brazil and cease negotiations with the Mercosur countries on a trade deal involving meat.

The IFA president said he would raise the report with an Taoiseach Simon Harris and Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue at the IFA Farming and Food Conference this Thursday 31 October.

“It really is unbelievable against the backdrop of such serious findings of the food safety audit carried out in Brazil, which identified critical in adequacies in the systems to certify beef to meet the EU health certification requirements, that the EU are attempting to ramp up negotiations to conclude the Mercosur trade deal.

“It is bad enough that the EU is willing to do a trade deal with a country that has much lower environmental, animal health, welfare and traceability standards, but now we find out that the EU itself can’t even trust the arrangements they have in place to certify beef as hormone free to comply with existing EU Health certification requirements.

“Further negotiations between the EU and the Mercosur countries are due to take place on November.

“Any discussions on beef should be halted and all imports from Brazil should be stopped until the Brazilian authorities can prove they meet the world-class standards met by Irish and EU suckler and beef farmers,” he added.

Meanwhile, the Irish Cattle and Sheep Farmers’ Association (ICSA) has planned a protest will hold a rally next week against the impending Mercosur trade deal.