Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

I have been in regular contact with Commissioner Kyprianou on the issue of Brazilian beef and he has assured me that the Commission will not hesitate to take the appropriate protection measures if a product, imported from a third country or produced in the domestic market, represents a risk to the health of EU consumers, livestock or plants. Indeed, the Commission official who attended the joint Oireachtas committee recently gave the same assurance to the committee.

An EU Food and Veterinary Office, FVO, inspection to evaluate animal health and public health control systems, traceability and certification procedures in place in Brazil was carried out in September of last year. In December the FVO completed the second mission that year to evaluate the control of residues and contaminants in live animals and animal products, including controls on veterinary medical products in that country. The FVO recently published its findings following a period of consultation with the Brazilians.

The reports comment on the structure, organisation and tasks of the Brazilian competent authorities and listed a number of recommendations to the authorities to address deficiencies recorded in the course of the audits. The Commission has confirmed to my Department that action plans to implement the various recommendations have been received. Brazil provided information on residue monitoring in June 2006 and a corrective action plan was received from the Brazilian authorities in August. Following assessment the Commission deemed acceptable the measures on beef, horse meat and aquaculture. They had already taken action against Brazil because of its poor performance on residue levels in certain products and some products have been withdrawn from Brazil's residue plan for export to the EU, including eggs and egg products, milk and milk products, pig meat, ovine and caprine meat and honey.

With regard to laboratories, I understand the Joint Committee on Agriculture and Food was assured by the Commission that there is no risk from legally imported beef from Brazil and that further plans for upgrading equipment and technical training methods are accurate and realistic. The Commission official also indicated that a further FVO inspection on residues in Brazil is being planned to take place in the first quarter of 2007 to verify the implementation of the corrective measures, and they have also scheduled another animal and public health mission to Brazil for the early part of next year.

I will continue to take every opportunity to remind the Commission of the importance of having the same standards, particularly on exporting countries, including Brazil, and my Department and I will continue to closely monitor the position.

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