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U.S. Suspends Beef Imports From Brazil
RIO DE JANEIRO — The United States on Thursday suspended imports of fresh beef from Brazil because of safety concerns, dealing a blow to one of Brazil’s biggest industries just months after Brazilian investigators accused food inspectors of accepting bribes.
In a statement announcing the decision, Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue said, “Ensuring the safety of our nation’s food supply is one of our critical missions.”
“My first priority is to protect American consumers,” Mr. Perdue added.
A number of countries suspended Brazilian meat imports in March after a two-year investigation by Brazil’s Federal Police led to the arrests of dozens of federal inspectors who were accused of accepting bribes to allow expired meats to be sold and falsifying sanitary permits.
Brazil’s agriculture minister, Blairo Maggi, said at the time that investigators had made crucial mistakes and called the inquiry “a punch in the stomach.” Since March, the United States has been inspecting 100 percent of Brazilian meat imports, the Department of Agriculture said, and has turned away 11 percent of the country’s fresh beef products — a significantly higher proportion than the 1 percent of imports normally refused from other countries.
In rejecting about 1.9 million pounds of Brazilian beef products, the department cited “public health concerns, sanitary conditions, and animal
The United States said Brazil had voluntarily suspended exports from five meatpackers, but the new suspension superseded that move. “The suspension of shipments will remain in place until the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture takes corrective action which the USDA finds satisfactory,” Thursday’s statement said.
The Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported Wednesday that one of the meatpackers suspended by the government was owned by JBS, a Brazilian meat giant. A top JBS executive, Joesley Batista, has accused President Michel Temer of endorsing the payment of hush money to a politician jailed for corruption. The president has denied the accusation, but it has further inflamed an already serious political crisis.
JBS was also named in the meat standards investigation, though the focus was on smaller companies, and it denied any wrongdoing.
On Thursday, JSB declined to comment on the decision by the United States, as did the Brazilian government.
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