We must not become a dumping ground for Brazil's beef

From September 3, the European Union will remove Brazil from its approved list of beef suppliers because the country has not provided sufficient guarantees over antimicrobial use. That is not a minor technicality. The standards at issue, responsible medicine use, veterinary oversight and reliable traceability, are the same principles demanded of British farmers.

British producers have cut antibiotic sales by 60% since 2014 and reduced the use of antibiotics considered critically important for human health by 83%. They cannot be expected to compete against imports from a production system which has not demonstrated equivalent controls.

The central point is simple: if Brazil cannot provide sufficient guarantees for its beef to enter the EU, why should those same guarantees suddenly be considered unnecessary when the product arrives at a British port?

A joint Irish farmer and journalist delegation travelled almost 3000km across four Brazilian states in 2025, visiting farms, livestock markets, slaughter plants and agricultural stores.

Its report recorded that members were able to buy prescription-only injectable antibiotics, including highest-priority critically important antimicrobials, without being asked for a prescription, identification, herd number or explanation of how the medicines would be used.

They also reported serious weaknesses in cattle identification and traceability, including animals without official tags and removable tags being sold alongside the equipment required to apply and remove them.

Their findings were taken to politicians, MEPs and European Commission officials. The pressure continued through the winter and into 2026 pushing the Commission to act.

The investigation did not, by itself, create the restriction. However, it produced evidence, created political pressure and forced the Commission to apply its own rules.

Brussels has finally yielded to the weight of evidence and to determined farming voices which refused to be brushed aside.That should be a lesson for farming representatives in Britain.

NFU president Tom Bradshaw, the British Meat Processors Association, NFU Scotland and the Scottish Red Meat Resilience Group have called for Britain to mirror the European approach unless Brazil can provide verified and auditable guarantees of equivalent standards.

These interventions are welcome. But letters and statements must be the beginning of the campaign, not its conclusion.

The danger is not that all the beef previously sold in Europe will be dumped here overnight. Brazil has many international customers and a wholesale diversion to Britain is unlikely.

Only a small proportion would be enough to transform the UK market. Redirecting just 5% of the EU’s 2025 Brazilian beef imports would amount to approximately 4164 tonnes, equivalent to 35% of everything Britain imported from Brazil in that category last year.

Great Britain can't become the easiest pressure-release valve when a more valuable market closes.

We should remember that organised farming pressure can change policy.

In 2008, after unsatisfactory European inspections and sustained campaigning by farming organisations, tougher rules effectively suspended Brazilian beef imports until approved holdings could be identified. Only 412 Brazilian farms were subsequently judged eligible, compared with around 10,000 which had previously supplied the market.

Defra should conduct an in-person audit rather than relying solely on written assurances. Border testing should be increased and the findings published. Country-of-origin information must also be strengthened in food service and catering, where imported meat is least visible to consumers.

This is not protectionism for its own sake. Nor is it an attack on Brazilian farmers.

It is a demand for equivalence.