Scorned beef

On Tuesday, the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries imposed a temporary restriction on imports of all meat products from Brazil as a precaution.

President of the Supermarket Association (SATT) Dr Yunus Ibrahim told Newsday that while they were still awaiting guidance from the ministry and the Health Inspectorate, they instructed their members to pull the corned beef off the shelves.

“We have been very compliant and we just went ahead and pulled the product,” he said. The Brazilian Embassy, in a release yesterday, stressed that of the 4800 meat-packing plants in Brazil, irregularities were only found in 21, of which only six were licensed for export.

The Embassy said none of those establishments have exported corned beef to this country.

The Embassy also shared a declaration by its President Michel Temer who said that the Government decided to speed up the audit process in the 21 establishments cited in the Federal Police investigation.

Three have been suspended and all 21 will be placed under special inspection regime conducted by a specific task force of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (MAPA).