Brazil suspends beef exports to China after atypical case of BSE in Mato Grosso

On 31 May 2019, the Agricultural and Farming Defence of the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Supply (MAPA, in Portuguese) reported the occurrence of one case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE), better known as ‘mad cow disease’, in a 17-year-old cow presented to be slaughtered for beef production in the state of Mato Grosso, Central-West of Brazil.

MAPA confirmed that all BSE-specific risk material was collected from the animal prior to its emergency slaughter and on-site incineration. The Ministry also confirmed that no part of the animal entered the food chain, with no risk to the population at large.

The case was deemed atypical because the animal contracted BSE spontaneously and sporadically, rather than by ingestion of contaminated animal feed. The finding was promptly reported to the importers and the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE), which has already reviewed the incident and confirmed that it closed the case and maintained Brazil’s status as a country with a negligible BSE risk. According to the MAPA, in more than twenty years, only three cases of atypical BSE were detected, without a single case of classical BSE (caused when the cattle are fed with brain and spinal tissue from other ruminants).

Shipments to China – currently the main importer of Brazil’s beef in terms of revenue and second largest importer in tonnes – were temporarily suspended until the Chinese authorities complete their own investigations into the incident in compliance with the quarantine and sanitary protocols signed by the two countries in 2015. Market sources expect exports to the Asian country to resume shortly.

The announcements made by MAPA are available here (in Portuguese).

This is the second time in two years that the Brazilian meatpacking industry has suffered a blow. In March 2017, the Federal Police launched the ‘Weak Flesh’ operation to investigate corruption schemes operating within the MAPA structure to defraud inspections and sanitary permits, as reported here, but beef production and exports have since recovered.

UPDATE 14 JUNE 2019:

On 13 June 2019, China informed Brazil that it will resume imports of Brazilian beef. As established in the sanitary protocol signed by the two countries, Brazil had suspended shipments after an atypical BSE case was detected, confirmed and notified to the OIE. Unlike the classical form of the disease, the atypical form occurs spontaneously and sporadically and is not related to the ingestion of contaminated foods. Detection is the result of active monitoring under the National BSE Prevention and Surveillance Program (PNEEB), adopted by MAPA since 2015.

OIE still considers Brazil as a country of insignificant risk to the so-called mad cow disease, the best grade assigned by the organization.