The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) is looking for the European Commission to publish the full details of its November audit that uncovered the import into the EU of Brazilian beef produced using hormones banned in the EU.
The audit resulted in a recall of the frozen supplies of Brazilian beef from the 10 European countries it had been shipped to after arriving in Rotterdam port, but some of the hormone beef had been consumed before the recall notice issued.
The IFA’s call for the audit details to be made public came with harsh criticism of the Commission’s position that it will not impose sanctions on the offending Brazilian beef exporters as “it is up to Brazil to remedy the situation”.
The full audit report is not due to be published until 2026, after EU member states decide their position on the proposed EU-Mercosur free trade deal.
Rhetoric
“This was the same rhetoric we heard last year when the EU found that the procedures Brazil allegedly had in place to prevent this particular hormone - oestradiol - from entering the EU food chain could not be relied upon,” IFA president Francie Gorman said.
“We were told then, in late 2024, by the Commission that Brazil stopped sending beef from female animals into the EU until the matter was resolved.
“Yet product with this exact hormone has now turned up in Europe and has been belatedly recalled, with some of the meat already consumed in some member states.”
The Commission’s comments that it has been “engaging constructively with the Brazilian authorities” has not convinced Gorman that corrective action will be taken.
“The time for relying on assurances from the Brazilian authorities is over,” he said, adding that 2024’s assurances on the enforcement of beef import rules hormone has proven unreliable.
“This approach is making a laughing stock of the Commission,” he said.
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The Irish Farmers' Association (IFA) is looking for the European Commission to publish the full details of its November audit that uncovered the import into the EU of Brazilian beef produced using hormones banned in the EU.
The audit resulted in a recall of the frozen supplies of Brazilian beef from the 10 European countries it had been shipped to after arriving in Rotterdam port, but some of the hormone beef had been consumed before the recall notice issued.
The IFA’s call for the audit details to be made public came with harsh criticism of the Commission’s position that it will not impose sanctions on the offending Brazilian beef exporters as “it is up to Brazil to remedy the situation”.
The full audit report is not due to be published until 2026, after EU member states decide their position on the proposed EU-Mercosur free trade deal.
Rhetoric
“This was the same rhetoric we heard last year when the EU found that the procedures Brazil allegedly had in place to prevent this particular hormone - oestradiol - from entering the EU food chain could not be relied upon,” IFA president Francie Gorman said.
“We were told then, in late 2024, by the Commission that Brazil stopped sending beef from female animals into the EU until the matter was resolved.
“Yet product with this exact hormone has now turned up in Europe and has been belatedly recalled, with some of the meat already consumed in some member states.”
The Commission’s comments that it has been “engaging constructively with the Brazilian authorities” has not convinced Gorman that corrective action will be taken.
“The time for relying on assurances from the Brazilian authorities is over,” he said, adding that 2024’s assurances on the enforcement of beef import rules hormone has proven unreliable.
“This approach is making a laughing stock of the Commission,” he said.
Read more
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