The Irish Farmers' Association has called on the EU to impose an immediate ban on the import of Brazilian beef following a second investigation it carried out into the standards being used to produce beef there.
The IFA team said it had evidence to show non-existent cattle traceability, illegal removal and cutting out of tags, totally inadequate movement and foot-and-mouth disease controls, and the use of hormone growth promoters.
John Bryan, IFA's beef committee chairman, who led the investigation team visited 15 farms in three Brazilian states and also observed farming practices on a further 27 farms.
He said the team, which in- cluded IFA's director of livestock, Kevin Kinsella, and Irish Farmers Journal reporter, Justin McCarthy, had witnessed shocking practices that made a farce of EU controls and standards.
"There is no way either the EU Commission or European supermarkets can any longer pretend Brazilian beef imports come anywhere near satisfying EU standards and consumer expectations," he said.
He claimed there was no cattle tagging whatsoever on the majority of farms visited and they found routine, widespread removal and cutting out of the official tags to facilitate illegal movement.
The team saw cattle destined for export with split ears and holes in the ears from the removal of original tags in order to change their identity and make them acceptable at export plants.
"On one of the farms visited, we found evidence of the use of growth-promoting hormones banned in Europe. We also found widespread use of other drugs that are banned in the EU. Anti-biotics and insecticides to kill parasites are widely used and readily available over the counter in farm stores in all rural towns," his report said.
He accused the EU Commission, particularly trade commissioner, Peter Mandelson and consumer protection commissioner, Markos Kyprianou, of pursuing a politically-motivated trade agenda on Brazilian beef imports, which was posing an unacceptable and unnecessary threat - not tolerated by the United States and a number of other countries - to the European consumer and livestock sector.