Four more countries followed China’s example and once again allowed the import of Brazilian beef, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs informed this Thursday (23) evening. Itamaraty did not report which countries were. He only informed, in a note, that six countries continue to block the product: Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Iran, Russia and Thailand.
After a month of embargo because of a case of atypical (non-communicable) mad cow disease in Pará, China, the main buyer of Brazilian beef, announced the reopening of imports. The announcement was made by the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Carlos Fávaro, who met this Thursday with the Minister of General Administration of Chinese Customs (GACC), Yu Jianhua.
Fávaro arrived in China before President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who arrives in the Asian country on Monday (26) and will spend a week on an official trip with a delegation of ministers, parliamentarians and businessmen.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, through its network of embassies, has been acting since the announcement of the BSE case [encefalopatia espongiforme bovina] to avoid undue market closures. Through active monitoring, the MRE detected closure risks in 15 countries,” the note highlighted. “In four cases it was possible to avoid closing the market and in another five, counting China, the markets were momentarily closed, but have already reopened. Efforts continue with a view to reopening the remaining 6 markets – Bahrain, Kazakhstan, Qatar, Iran, Russia and Thailand,” the statement added.
Itamaraty also reported that the Brazilian government “received with satisfaction” the news of China’s reopening to Brazilian beef. According to the statement, the end of the blockade resulted from “intense diplomatic efforts”, followed by the visit of Minister Carlos Fávaro to the Asian country. He participates in meetings with Chinese authorities, seminars and meetings with the productive sector before President Lula’s arrival.
No communicable cases
This was the second time in a year and a half that Brazil stopped exporting beef to China. From September to December 2021the Asian country, the largest buyer of meat in Brazil, suspended purchases after two atypical cases, in Minas Gerais and Mato Grosso.
Until today, Brazil has not registered classic cases of mad cow, caused by the ingestion of contaminated meat and pieces of bone. Caused by a prion, a protein molecule with no genetic code, mad cow disease is a degenerative disease also called bovine spongiform encephalitis. The modified proteins consume the animal’s brain, making it comparable to a sponge.
In addition to oxen and cows, the disease affects buffaloes, sheep and goats. Ingestion of meat and animal by-products contaminated with prions causes transmissible spongiform encephalopathy in humans. In the late 1990s, there was an outbreak of cases of mad cow disease in humans in Great Britain, which caused the consumption of beef to be suspended in the country for several months. At the time, the disease was transmitted to humans through cattle fed contaminated animal feed.
