Health director-general Datuk Dr Noor Hisham Abdullah was reported to have said that in addition to the requirement of the health certificate from the Brazilian authorities by Malaysia’s Health Ministry, the inspection was being carried out as a precautionary measure.
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“The department is in the process of ensuring that the establishments implicated are suspended from exporting meat to the country until the Brazilian Veterinary Authority has fully investigated the matter and can give the necessary assurances for compliance to the South African requirements for importation of meat into the country”.
Meanwhile, Brazilian Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi said because of the finding, more than 30 countries might no longer trust the country’s meat products.
And Russia, which has heavily relied on Brazilian imports since banning United States and European Union food imports, said it wanted clarifications from Brazil.
Export to the European Union for fresh and frozen bovine meat in 2013 amounted to 65, 879 tonnes with a value of 395, 817 million euros.
Tuesday evening quoted Senior Veterinary Officer Dr Mark Trotman as saying concerns about the possibility of adulterated corned beef from Brazil entering Barbados had led to the temporary ban, while advising retailers to withdraw all Brazilian meat products from their shelves.
The embassy said that of the 21 companies under investigation only six have exported products within the last 60 days and none of those exports were made to Jamaica.
The Hong Kong Center For Food Safety met with more than 100 representatives from local frozen meat importers, wholesalers and the shipping industry on the next steps.
“We don’t import [Brazilian meat products], we have even stopped importing from Malaysia”, he said on Thursday, March 23, 2017. Hong Kong also placed restrictions on Brazilian access to its market.
However, the reaction by Chinese food suppliers suggests that the investigation could have a big effect on the world’s top meat exporter.
He said Brazil’s challenge is to persuade markets that while “some public servants were corrupt, we’ve never had, not for a moment, accusations that our products are not good quality, especially those for export”.
“This underlines the importance of consumers putting their trust in food sourced from farms in the United Kingdom, produced to world-leading quality and traceability standards”, said Mr Bell.
The fast food giant said it did not buy from any of the 21 exporters that have been found with contaminated meat.
During a public hearing in the Senate, the Minister of Agriculture, Blairo Maggi, estimated that Brazilian slaughterhouses might lose some US$ 1.5 billion in sales as a effect of the crisis, which is equivalent to 10% of the annual exports of Brazilian meat.
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Officials have been scrambling to contain the damage since Brazilian police announced the results of a two-year investigation on Friday.
