Barbados has implemented bans on the importation of all meat and meat products from Brazil, the Barbados Nation reported yesterday.
This disclosure has come from senior veterinary officer Dr Mark Trotman, who said that due to concerns about the possibility of adulterated corned beef from Brazil entering Barbados, the ban had been effected pending further investigation as to whether any of the product had come into the island.
Trotman has advised retailers to withdraw all Brazilian meat products from their shelves. He also warned consumers not to purchase corned beef or other canned meats manufactured in Brazil until the investigation was completed, the report said.
Jamaica, according to yesterday’s Jamaica Observer, has imposed an immediate import ban on corned beef from Brazil, according to its Ministry of Industry, Agriculture, Fisheries and Commerce.
The ministry said in a release that the move follows reports from Brazilian authorities that several major Brazilian meat processors have been “selling rotten beef and poultry”. The companies are also alleged to have paid hefty bribes to auditors in exchange for fraudulent sanitary licences.
The ministry said the companies implicated by the Brazilian authorities supply 99.5 per cent of the corned beef on the local market.