New Outbreak of Foot and Mouth Disease Hits Brazilian Cattle

Once again, Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture reports that outbreaks of foot and mouth disease have been confirmed in six locations in the state of Paraná. The Ministry says it has reported the situation to international animal health authorities.

The locations where the disease has been confirmed were interdicted at the end of last year when the first cases were reported. It is estimated that some 4,500 heads of cattle are in the area.

At the end of last year, isolated cases of foot and mouth disease were found in the states of Mato Grosso do Sul and Paraná. In spite of government efforts to explain the situation, a total of 56 countries maintain restrictions on imports of Brazilian meat.

Eight countries (South Africa, Chile, China, Cuba, Indonesia, Namibia, Thailand and Venezuela) do not accept meat from any state in Brazil. The rest of the countries will not accept meat from the states affected and São Paulo.

At the moment, Brazil is in talks with Russia which has prohibited imports of beef and pork from eight states. Russia imported meat from Brazil worth US$ 1.3 billion in 2005, which was 45% of all beef and pork exports by Brazil (totalling US$ 2.9 billion).

Spokespersons say the Russians should soon at least limit their embargo and accept meat from Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Mato Grosso, Goiás and Minas Gerais.

According to the meat exporters association, Brazil now exports meat to 170 countries worth US$ 8 billion annually, or the equivalent of 6.8% of all exports.

Agência Brasil

Tags:

You May Also Like

Déjà Vu: Lula da Silva Quadros

Six months ago, who would be deranged enough to predict that public servants would ...

Cheaper Food and Ethanol Brings Deflation to Brazil

Falling prices of ethanol and food are responsible for continued deflation in the city ...

How to Marry a Brazilian

For an American citizen the road to marry a Brazilian can be rugged and ...

Blame Game Is On: TAM and Infraero Fault Each Other for Brazil’s Airport Chaos

Infraero, the state-run company that manages the Brazilian airports, and Brazil’s largest airline, TAM, ...

Weak Dollar Won’t Harm the Bottom Line, Says Brazil

The minutes of the last meeting of the Brazilian Monetary Policy Committee (Copom) make ...

Brazil Refuses to Take Part in Chí¡vez’s “Axis of Good” Proposal

Brazil’s Minister of Foreign Relations, Celso Amorim, declared that the idea presented by the ...

Bad Idea, Say Brazil’s Military to Sharing Dirty War Files

The Brazilian Armed Forces weren’t happy at all at the declarations of the Minister-Chief ...

Brazil’s Opposition Wants to Oust the House Speaker

The leaders of Brazil’s opposition parties (PSDB, PFL, PV, PDT, and PPS) had a ...

Brazil Uses Its Own 20-Minute AIDS Test

In 2006, Brazil will begin using rapid tests developed by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation ...

Can Brazil’s World Cup Leave More than White Elephants as Legacy?

A little over a year before the opening, 2014 FIFA World Cup projects are ...