U.S. Halts Import of Brazilian Beef Following Tainted Meat Scandal
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U.S. food safety regulators have put a stop to fresh beef imports from Brazil, following earlier reports that meatpackers in the country—one of the world's largest beef exporters—had allowed rotten, salmonella-tainted meat to be shipped abroad.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture announced Thursday that it had suspended, until further notice, all imports of fresh beef from Brazil following "recurring concerns about the safety of the products intended for the American market."
Since March, the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) had been inspecting 100% of all meat products arriving in the U.S. from Brazil. FSIS has since blocked about 11% (or 1.9 million pounds) of the beef from entering the country, because of public health concerns, sanitary conditions, and animal health issues.
According to the USDA, the refusal rate is substantially higher than the rejection rate of 1% of shipments from the rest of the world.
The new ban on Brazilian meat imports will continue "until the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture takes corrective action which the USDA finds satisfactory," the USDA said.
"Ensuring the safety of our nation's food supply is one of our critical missions, and it's one we undertake with great seriousness," said U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue.
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