Food Safety Markets

Chile and Jordan Join Brazilian Beef Ban List

GLOBAL - Despite Brazilian government assurance over the safety of their beef, Jordan and Chile have imposed a ban on Brazilian beef.

3 January 2013

1 minute read

The Chile and Jordanian governments have joined China, Japan, South Africa and Saudi Arabia and others in banning brazilian beef imports after a bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) scare, according to the Global Dispatch.

This comes after the disclosure of an atypical case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy in 2010 in Paraná which Brazilian government officials state does not alter Brazil's optimum 'negligible risk' BSE status.

Foreign Trade Secretary, Tatiana Prazeres, said:“There is no basis for these decisions on health parameters and the government is analyzing what measures will be taken.”

"Taking action at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) is on our radar,” added Tatiana Prezeres.

The Global Dispatch reported that Chilean imports of Brazilian beef amounted to 62,600 tonnes of beef from January to November 2012 and that Secretary Prazeres estimated that 4.4 per cent of the country's total beef exports have been affected by the bans. Even with the measures, however, beef exports rose to 83.700 tons in December compared with 82.700 in November and 63.100 a year earlier according to trade ministry data.