In less than four months, USDA inspectors rejected 1.9 million pounds of fresh beef from Brazil, a worrisome 11 percent of shipments from that country during that time. Now Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has suspended all Brazilian beef imports, saying, “My first priority is to protect American consumers.”
The USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) had launched a 100 percent re-inspection of Brazilian fresh beef in the wake of an inspection scandal in Brazil alleging that meat processors paid bribes to gain approval to ship suspect meat. Brazil is one of the world’s largest beef exporters, and its largest packer, JBS, has U.S. operations.
Since March, when the 100 percent inspection program began, FSIS has turned back 11 percent of fresh beef shipments from Brazil, compared with the average 1 percent rejection rate for shipments from the rest of the world. The nearly 2 million pounds of beef were rejected “due to public health concerns, sanitary conditions, and animal health issues,” said the USDA. Brazil barred five plants from exporting to the United States. The USDA said its suspension supersedes Brazil’s action.
“Although international trade is an important part of what we do at USDA, and Brazil has long been one of our partners, my first priority is to protect American consumers. That’s what we’ve done by halting the import of Brazilian fresh beef,” said Perdue in a statement.
Activist rancher groups and some Western lawmakers called for a ban on Brazilian beef as soon as the inspection scandal became public. “We applaud the USDA’s decision to suspend the importation of fresh Brazilian beef, and we urge them to avoid similar circumstances in the future by following more rigorous importation standards,” said Roger Johnson, president of the National Farmers Union.