USDA Embargoes Tainted Brazilian Beef Over Food Safety Concerns

After a large portion of Brazil’s beef was found to be rotten and tainted in a massive corruption scandal, USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue has finally decided that the time has come to halt imports of the beef to the United States.

The USDA, who has been inspecting 100% of all Brazilian beef imports since the scandal began back in March, announced their embargo on Brazilian beef after rejecting over 1.9 million pounds of beef from the South American country since the increased inspections began. That amount corresponds to 11% of all Brazilian beef, which is a much higher rejection rate than the 1% the rest of the world has when the US inspects their beef.

According to Cattle Network, the new embargo also stems from Brazil’s inspectors halting shipments of beef from five of their packing plants when foot-and-mouth disease — which causes abscesses inside and outside of the beef — were discovered.

In a news release from the USDA, Secretary Perdue commended the Food Safety Inspection Service that has been monitoring Brazilian beef imports for its hard work and emphasized the importance of food safety in making his decision.

“Although international trade is an important part of what we do at USDA, and Brazil has long been one of our partners, my first priority is to protect American consumers. That’s what we’ve done by halting the import of Brazilian fresh beef. I commend the work of USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service for painstakingly safeguarding the food we serve our families.”

As of now, there is no timetable as to when Brazilian beef will be allowed back into the United States, but similar contaminations halted Brazilian imports back in 2003 for over a decade. Only time will tell now how long it will take for the imported beef to be proven safe enough to be allowed into our borders once more.