The attempt to reduce the timeframe for issuing international sanitary certificates and the proposal to include industry-paid technicians in the inspection of slaughterhouses threaten the integrity of agricultural inspection in Brazil, according to Anffa Union.
BRASÍLIA, Brazil, April 12, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — For over a century, the quality of Brazilian meat has been ensured by the surveillance of federal agricultural inspector from the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa), a presence that guaranteed strict sanitary standards in the country’s export slaughterhouses. However, recent changes requested by large slaughterhouses and regulatory proposals suggesting the partial replacement of official inspection with industry’s own technicians put this tradition of food safety at risk.
In March, at the request of the slaughterhouses, Mapa reduced the deadline for issuing the international sanitary certificate, essential for the export of Brazilian meat, from 5 to 2 days. The measure was viewed with concern by Mapa’s technical area and by the National Union of Federal Agricultural Inspector (Anffa Union), who highlighted the impossibility of maintaining the quality of inspection within this new limit, pointing to the average issuance time of the document, which was already between 3.49 and 4.28 days. In April, the Supreme Court of Justice suspended the effects of the deadline reduction, justifying it as a “risk of irreversible damage or difficult reversal.”
“The regulation proposal of qualified technicians paid by the private sector to act in inspections drastically reduces the effectiveness of inspection and deviates from public interest, compromising the attainment of safe and quality products,” argued Anffa’s president, Janus Pablo Macedo.
Considered radical, the measure may have immeasurable consequences for Brazil’s commercial and diplomatic relations with importing countries. “The decision is serious, since the loads may be exported without the proper verification and, thereby, without the guarantee of meeting the requirements agreed with the importing countries, generating questions regarding the safety of the products and the continuity of the agreements,” Macedo warned.
Currently, Brazil has 2,300 agricultural auditors, of whom about 20% are already eligible for retirement. With a deficit of 1,600 auditors, the union warns of the growing risks to public health and Brazil’s reputation as a reliable international meat supplier, in view of the difficulties in adequately meeting sanitary requirements.
CONTACT PUBLIC RELATIONS
FSB Holding / Anffa Union
Shismênia Oliveira
[email protected]
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