The Philippine government may lift the ban on meat imports from Brazil this month following an inspection of meat plants in the Latin American country, according to Agriculture Secretary Emmanuel F. Piñol.
Piñol said on Tuesday the ban on shipments from Brazil foreign meat establishments (FMEs), which exported meat tainted with salmonella to the Philippines in July, could be lifted “anytime soon”.
“So far, the team did not find anything negative,” he said when asked about the initial results of the inspection.
National Meat Inspection Service (NMIS) Executive Director Ernesto S. Gonzalez confirmed to the BusinessMirror that the team from the Department of Agriculture (DA) has recently completed the inspection of suspended Brazil FMEs.
Brazillian Animal Protein Association (ABPA) Vice President of Market Ricardo Santin told the BusinessMirror that his group is confident the ban on meat products from Brazil would be lifted within the month.
“The inspection of Brazilian plants by Philippine authorities proceeded with no hitches. We are waiting for the report from the Philippine government,” Santin said. “We are optimistic that the ban on Brazilian plants will be lifted in October.”
Should the DA allow the resumption of shipments from Brazil this month, he said the meat products would reach the Philippines just in time for Christmas.
Santin reiterated ABPA’s statement that the ban should not have been imposed in the first place given the stringent food-safety measures imposed by the Brazilian government.
“Brazil has a trustworthy system, quality products and the most stringent measures to ensure animal health,” he said.
Earlier, Meat Importers and Traders Association President Jesus C. Cham urged the government to expedite the lifting of the ban, arguing that it “was not justified in the first place”.
“We had hoped that the Philippines would expedite the lifting of the ban, especially we know now that the ban was not justified in the first place. We understand that the outbreak of the bird flu also contributed to the delay,” Cham told the BusinessMirror. “But since there was no basis to begin with, the Philippines could just have restored the accreditation of FMEs.”
He noted that lifting the ban on meat products from the Latin American country before the year ends would not have any effect on the prices of meat products this holiday season.
Should the government resume the issuance of permits to importers of Brazilian meat, he said it would benefit them next year. “It is now too late in the day for meat products to arrive in time for the Christmas season. Importers are resigned to [the fact that there may be] no Brazilian meat for the rest of the year.”
In August Piñol issued Memorandum Order (MO) 32, dated July 31, which authorized the temporary suspension of the accreditation of all Brazilian FMEs.
“According to Memorandum Circular 9-2008-5, Series of 2008, entitled ‘Microbiological limits for assessment of microbiological quality fresh, chilled and frozen meat’, microbiological limits for salmonella spp. must be absent in 25 grams sample,” Piñol said in MO 32.
“A total of 246 out of 492 container vans were sampled and subjected to laboratory analysis from March 1 to June 30, wherein samples from 18 containers [7 percent] tested positive for salmonella spp.,” MO 32 read.
Earlier, the Philippine Association of Meat Processors Inc. (Pampi) told the BusinessMirror that the government’s decision to ban meat imports from Brazil could cause the retail price of some processed-meat products to go up by as much as 15 percent.
Brazil is a top source of raw materials, particularly mechanically deboned meat (MDM), for Philippine meat processors.
Last year Brazil exported 55,581.853 metric tons (MT) of meat and meat products to the Philippines. The figure was 5.86 percent higher than the 52,505.429 MT recorded in 2015.
Beef accounted for 33.3 percent of meat purchases from Brazil. Government data showed that beef imports reached 18,524.966 MT, 69.04 percent higher than the 10,959.168 MT in the previous year.
More than half of the country’s meat imports from Brazil were MDM of chicken. Chicken MDM imports last year reached 30,557.036 MT, 18 percent lower than the 2015 record of 37,314.374 MT.
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