Ireland's beef farmers have begun a campaign aimed at making it harder for powerful Brazilian rivals to sell their meat in Europe.
The Irish Farmers' Association has complained to the European Commission about Brazilian ranchers. Photograph: Brenda Fitzsimons
But cattle-raisers in South America's agricultural powerhouse - Brazil is the world's biggest beef exporter - deny the claims that they fail to meet European Union standards.
Irish farmers fear they will be big losers if global trade talks finally succeed and have long been protected by high import tariffs, as well as EU subsidies. They say a deal at the World Trade Organization (WTO) could cost them €2 billion ($2.7 billion) a year in lost exports.
The EU, the United States, Brazil and India began a five-day meeting in Germany on Tuesday, seeking a breakthrough in the WTO's long-delayed Doha round of talks to lower barriers to trade worldwide.
The Irish Farmers' Association has complained to the European Commission that Brazilian ranchers are not obliged to meet the kind of standards required for EU farmers.
"What we want is for the EU to say to Brazil is: 'Ok, you can send your meat, but you must put in place the same standards, which will cost you'," IFA president Padraig Walshe said.
The IFA says Brazilian beef farmers do not employ proper tagging and identification systems, which can be used to trace shipments in the case of disease outbreaks.
The Irish farmers also claim that Brazilian farmers use growth hormones, have inadequate disease controls and wreak environmental damage.
The head of Brazil's Beef Export Industry Association accused Irish farmers of making "false and misrepresenting" claims in a trade publication that criticised Brazil's industry.
"Brazil's commercial beef producers have been very concerned with recent publications by the Irish Farmers Journal," Marcus Vinicius Pratini de Moraes said.
"I don't know exactly where they visited when they were down here recently, but they published reports and pictures of farms that have nothing to do with the export industry."