THE Philippine government may ban meat imports from Brazil after salmonella was detected in some of the shipments from the Latin American country, according to an official of the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI).
BAI Assistant Director Simeon S. Amurao Jr. told the BusinessMirror that the government is mulling over two options to restrict the entry of meat products from Brazil.
“The options at hand that we will present to [Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol] are to either ban the individual plants or impose a blanket ban. We are still deliberating our recommendation,” Amurao said in an interview.
The BAI official said they will meet and present these options to Piñol next week, when he arrives from Rome, Italy, to chair the 40th session of the Food and Agriculture Organizaiton (FAO) Conference.
Amurao added that the Department of Agriculture chief will have the final say on what course of action the government would take.
He said the BAI considered the blanket ban after some meat imports from Brazil that were inspected by the National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) tested positive for salmonella.
Amurao said the government is cognizant of the possibility that either of the two options would have an impact on the meat-supply situation of the country, considering the high price of imported pork.
“Brazil accounts for around 6 percent of our annual meat imports. So in a way, we will be affected [by the possible ban] because we source some of our meat products there,” he said.
“But you cannot sacrifice health safety over profit. This is due to health reasons, or what we call sanitary and phytosanitary concerns,” Amurao added.
The BAI official, however, assured that there is no rotten meat being sold in Philippine markets today. Amurao said meat imports tainted with salmonella have been confiscated by the NMIS.
In an earlier interview, Amurao said the BAI would immediately impose a total ban on Brazil meat imports if it finds out that “rotten” beef was able to enter the Philippines.
The government had subjected all meat imports from Brazil to mandatory inspection and laboratory tests to ensure that these are safe for consumption.
This was done after Brazil’s federal police raided companies that allegedly bribed government inspectors to allow the shipment of rotten meat and meat tainted with salmonella.
Foreign news reports indicated 21 meat-packing plants were targeted by the police in an operation dubbed as “Operation Weak Flesh”, while three meat-packing plants have been shut down by the Brazilian government.
A report from Reuters revealed that BRF, the world’s biggest poultry exporter, and JBS, the world’s top beef producer, were part of the dozens of firms targeted in the police probe. However, both companies have denied any wrongdoing and assured consumers that their products meet rigorous quarantine standards, the Reuters report added.
The scandal forced major buyers of Brazilian meat to either suspend imports or impose more restrictions on shipments.
Data obtained from the BAI showed that the Philippines imported 20,716.616 metric tons (MT) of meat and meat products from Brazil from January to May. Beef imports accounted for 31.62 percent, or 6,551.453 MT, BAI data showed.
Chicken imports accounted for more than half of the meat and meat products purchased from Brazil, or about 62.64 percent. The Philippines imported 12,977.167 MT of chicken meat and products from Brazil during the five-month period.
In 2016 Brazil exported a total of 55,581.853 MT of meat and meat products to the Philippines. The figure was 5.86 percent higher than the 52,505.429 MT recorded in 2015.
Beef accounted for 33.3 percent of meat purchases from Brazil. Government data showed that beef imports reached 18,524.966 MT, 69.04 percent higher than the 2015 record of 10,959.168 MT.
More than half of the country’s meat imports from Brazil were mechanically deboned meat (MDM) of chicken. Chicken MDM imports last year reached 30,557.036 MT, 18 percent lower than the 37,314.374 MT posted in 2015.
Image credits: AP/Eraldo Peres
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