Philippine temporary halts Brazil cattle imports

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Agriculture (DA) has issued a temporary ban on cattle imports from Brazil due to outbreaks of mad cow disease.

In a memorandum order, Agriculture Secretary William Dar issued the temporary ban which covers the importation of live cattle, meat and meat products derived from cattle.

Based on reports to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), the veterinary authorities of Brazil reported an outbreak of Atypical Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) in the states of Mato Grosso and Minais Gerais earlier this month.

According to the DA, the studies have shown that the atypical type of BSE or mad cow disease may pose a risk to consumers due to BSE’s assumed link with the variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) in humans.

Under the memorandum order, the DA issued the temporary suspension of the processing, evaluation of the application and issuance of the Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) import clearance of meat and meat by products derived from cattle including live cattle importation.

“More rigorous and tight inspection on all arrivals of meat and meat by-products derived from cattle including live cattle by DA veterinary quarantine Officers assigned at ports of entry,”the DA said.

The Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (PAMPI) expressed concern over the temporary ban. Brazil is the country’s largest source of beef, adding that several meat processors procure as much as 70 percent of their needs from the country.

Latest data from the Bureau of Animal Industry (BAI) show that Brazil was the country’s top source of beef imports from January to August, accounting for 32.5 percent of total beef imports at 36.37 million kilos.

PAMPI stressed that Brazil has a large share of the market since its beef is priced much lower compared to beef products from other countries.

“With the ban, meat processors will be forced to use higher priced beef from suppliers such as Australia, Ireland and the US,”PAMPI said.

It added that the increased cost of beef raw material for processed meats would be passed on to consumers in terms of higher prices while the ban on Brazilian beef is in effect.

“We are concerned about the implications of the ban because as far as we know, it is only the Philippines which has imposed such ban,”PAMPI said.

“As the only country banning Brazil beef, we expose ourselves to trade retaliation which will make our food production situation more difficult as it already is under the pandemic,”the group added.

Section 10 of the Food Safety Act of 2013 states that in specific circumstances when the available relevant information for use in risk assessment is insufficient to show that a certain type of food or food product does not pose a risk to consumer health, precautionary measures shall be adopted.