DeLauro, Tester Target Brazilian Beef Following Corruption Allegations
Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) and Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) have urged the federal government to act in response to a Brazilian investigation allegedly finding that more than 100 of the country’s health inspectors allowed the sale of rancid meat, falsified export documents or failed to inspect meatpacking plants. Tester introduced a bill in the U.S. Senate purporting to temporarily ban Brazilian beef imports. “A 120-day ban will provide the U.S. Department of Agriculture time to comprehensively investigate food safety threats and to determine which Brazilian beef sources put American consumers [at] risk,” Tester’s March 21, 2017, press release asserts.
In a March 22 press release, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA’s) Food Safety and Inspection Service announced additional pathogen testing of all raw beef and ready-to-eat products from Brazil. “Keeping food safe for American families is our top priority,” Acting Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Mike Young was quoted as saying. “FSIS has strengthened the existing safeguards that protect the American food supply as a precaution and is monitoring the Brazilian government’s investigation closely.”
In a letter to Young, DeLauro called USDA’s actions “shortsighted” and pressed the agency to “immediately suspend all importation of Brazilian meat until the health and safety of their products can be assured.”
Issue 628
