Northumberland Farmers Raise Concerns with Local MEP Fiona Hall Over Brazilian Beef Imports

1.00.00pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 25th Sep 2007

Farmers in Northumberland have raised concerns with Fiona Hall, Member of the European Parliament for the region, about beef imports from Brazil. There are fears over the safety and quality of beef coming from Brazil, as foot-and-mouth disease is known to be present in areas of the country.

Irish and Scottish farmers represented cattle farming across Europe in July when they presented a report to the European Agriculture Committee outlining fears concerning the quality of beef imports coming from Brazil.

The USA, Japan, South Korea and Australia have all long since banned Brazilian beef imports due to poor health and safety standards and fears over the validity of traceability documentation.

While the EU has banned beef from certain areas of Brazil, where foot-and-mouth is known to be prevalent, demands are growing for a total ban. In recent months weight has been added to these demands due to the outbreak at Pirbright in Surrey and now recent concerns over not only foot-and-mouth but also the Bluetonge virus in UK cattle.

Liberal Democrat Fiona Hall said:

"Last year the European Union imported 330,000 tonnes of Brazilian beef. Of that, 30,000 tonnes went to consumers in the UK.

"Across the Union we have stringent standards concerning health and safety, and the handling and traceability of meat. It is utterly hypocritical to hold our farmers to such high standards while importing beef from Brazil that would not conform to those standards.

"This issue has cross party support within the European Parliament and we are calling on the Commission to put in place a total ban on Brazilian beef until such time as we can be sure of its quality and where it has come from.

"The concerns of Northumberland farmers, and consumers across the region, are being represented in Brussels and I hope we can secure a total ban very soon."