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Bill to halt imports of beef from Brazil reintroduced

Two U.S. Senators have reintroduced a bill that would suspend imports of Brazilian beef amid food safety and animal health concerns.

Senator Mike Rounds a Republican from South Dakota, one of the bill’s cosponsors, says Brazil has repeatedly failed to adhere to the rules set by the World Organization for Animal Health for reporting cases of atypical bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE). He says the legislation would ensure Brazilian beef is safe to eat before it enters the US market.  “Until such time as there has been a good analysis of what’s actually going on and why it is that Brazil consistently fails to notify the appropriate organizations when they do have a problem within their herds,” he says.

Rounds tells Brownfield this is one way to hold the country accountable.  “If there ever is anything that gets into the United States, it gives a beef a bad name,” he says.  “We don’t want our producers to have to suffer with something that Brazil has done because they’re been allowed to import beef into the United States.”

Democrat Jon Tester of Montana is the other cosponsor of the bill.

Brazil recently confirmed a case of BSE in the country’s northern state of Para.  Brazil says the symptoms indicate it was atypical BSE but samples have been sent for further testing to the WOAH lab in Alberta, Canada.

The US currently imports a significant amount of beef from Brazil.  Imports of fresh beef from Brazil were halted in 2018, but the ban was reversed in February 2020 after the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service determined fresh beef from Brazil was eligible for import. 

There are two forms of BSE, C-Type and atypical BSE.  C-type BSE has been linked to a variant affecting humans and atypical BSE occurs spontaneously and doesn’t risk animal or human health.

The bipartisan bill has the support of the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association, R-CALF USA, and the US Cattlemen’s Association. 

AUDIO: Senator Mike Rounds