Friday, December 21, 2007

Brazil vs. E.U. in beef dispute

The Brazilian government has criticized the European Union for putting restrictions on its beef exports. According to Brazil's Agriculture Ministry (via Xinhua):

The statement slammed the EU move as "unnecessary, disproportional and unjustified", shortly after the European Commission tightened restrictions on Brazilian beef exports to the27-nation bloc from Jan. 31.

Though Brazil is the world’s top exporter of beef, the E.U. found “a number of serious and repeated deficiencies in Brazil's animal health and traceability systems.” Previous cases of foot-and-mouth disease in Europe influenced the bloc;s decision of allowing Brazilian beef exclusively from “an approved and restricted list of holdings” which meet the E.U.’s guidelines.

Image- BBC News

Sources- Xinhua, Guardian UK, Bloomberg

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