The resumption of chicken imports from Brazil after a bird flu ban comes with a concerning caveat from the FairPlay movement.
Founder Francois Baird warns that South Africa must be extra vigilant about threats to food security and food safety.
“Brazil’s poultry producers have had notable – and horrific – lapses in food safety, particularly relating to chicken exports,” Baird said in a statement.
“There have also been questions about their labour and environmental practices, while chicken consignments have been used for cocaine smuggling. We need extreme vigilance to ensure there are no repetitions,” Baird stated.
Brazil is the world’s second-largest chicken producer and the largest exporter of poultry meat. More than 80% of South Africa’s poultry imports come from Brazil.
Following a bird flu outbreak, South Africa banned all Brazilian poultry imports from May 1, but it was lifted on July 4.
The first consignments are expected in South Africa in late August or early September.
“When these shipments arrive, South Africa must be on high alert,” Baird said.
“The agriculture department should not need reminding about Brazil’s “weak flesh” food safety scandal in 2017. That year, South Africa was among multiple countries that applied temporary bans on Brazilian poultry imports because of a scandal that made world headlines.”
The bans followed an announcement by Brazilian authorities that managers at more than 30 Brazilian companies had bribed health officials to get export certificates for meat that was contaminated or spoiled.
Among the allegations investigated by police was that export documents were falsified and that chemicals were used to mask the smell of tainted meat.
The meat companies, including two of Brazil’s largest, denied the allegations, but senior officials were arrested as countries, including China and the European Union, refused to accept Brazilian meat.
The meat scandal was followed by a Brazilian labour scandal. In December 2018, a US-based research company released a report alleging that thousands of people were victims of forced labour and inhumane work conditions in Brazil's booming meat and poultry industries.
Slave labour in Brazil's poultry sector was "endemic", said the report by the Washington-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP).
Then in 2019, the EU imposed a six-month ban on Brazilian poultry imports after an inspection found the food poisoning bug Salmonella in export products. Salmonella was again found in Brazilian chicken sent to the Netherlands last year.
Brazilian poultry shipments to South Africa had also been vehicles for cocaine smuggling, said Baird. An international investigation, conducted in 2023, found drug consignments in containers of frozen chicken in South Africa and Brazil.
“We must ensure that Brazil complies with all import and safety regulations, including certificates of origin, tariff classification, traceability, packaging and labelling of their chicken products,” said Baird.
Source: FairPlay.
