The Mercosur negotiations are on their highest and one of the topics in the negotiation is a larger quota for exports of poultry meat from mainly Brazil to the EU.
The import of meat from 3rd countries to EU was in 2016
895.000 T of poultry meat imported from 3rd countries! Another way of putting it: 25 % of the poultry breast meat consumed in the EU is coming from 3rd countries … so you might ask yourself … and the retailer … where the chicken meat in the sandwich you buy for lunch today is coming from?
There are 300.000 people working in the EU poultry meat sector today. For every chicken breast we import from 3rd countries – one chicken less must be produced in EU, which puts EU jobs in danger.
From the consumer perspective it is almost impossible to understand how the EU Commission can think of granting additional quantities to Brazil, following the recent fraud scandal in the country.
Due to this scandal, the EU Commission has conducted audits and carried out tests on Brazilian poultry meat arriving in the EU.
The poultry meat producers in EU must comply with very high standards on animal welfare, food safety and environmental protection. The EU Poultry Meat sector is proud of complying with these high “Farm to Fork” standards, because it ensures the EU consumers products of the highest quality. Unfortunately, countries outside the EU do not have the same extensive legislation.
The EU poultry meat sector is committed to keep EU consumer confidence in poultry products. Therefore, it is impossible to accept any additional concessions of poultry meat in the Mercosur free-trade agreement negotiation, especially since recent food fraud has highlighted the critical deficiencies from Brazilian producers to comply with the high EU standards.