The Irish Farmers' Association has welcomed a European Commission decision that will prevent Brazilian meat entering the EU from September 2026 unless the country can prove compliance with European antimicrobial resistance rules.
IFA president Francie Gorman said the move followed concerns raised by the organisation over antibiotic use in Brazilian beef production.
“The commission is finally taking the Antibiotic/Anti-Microbial Resistance (AMR) threat posed by Brazilian beef production somewhat seriously. This follows IFA/IFJ investigation of the unregulated use of all levels of antibiotics in the Brazil late last year,” he said.
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Gorman said representatives from the IFA and the Irish Farmers Journal travelled more than 3000km across four Brazilian states investigating how antibiotics were sold and used on beef farms.
“The findings were startling. We were able to purchase any amount of any type of antibiotics we wanted without so much as being asked for our names, the animal type or symptoms to be treated, a prescription, or even a farm identifier,” he said.
He added that in many outlets there were no checks or records kept on antibiotic sales.
Under updated EU rules, countries exporting animal products to the bloc must demonstrate that antimicrobials are not being used to promote growth or increase livestock production.
Brazil is currently not included on the approved export list, meaning exports of products including beef and poultry will be suspended from September 3, 2026 unless compliance can be demonstrated.
Gorman criticised the EU’s handling of the issue to date, claiming concerns raised by Irish farm organisations had previously been overlooked during negotiations around the Mercosur trade deal.
“The starting point has to be a comprehensive database of all bovine animals in the country to allow prescribing of antibiotics for farm animals and the infrastructure must then be built around that to incorporate prescribing, dispensing and treatment records similar to what we have in this country,” he said.
He added that until such systems were fully implemented, Brazilian beef should not enter the EU market.
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