The European Union is keeping Brazil off its list of meat exporters.

The European Union published on Friday (5), in its Official Journal, an update to the regulation that applies export restrictions related to the use of certain antimicrobials in livestock production. Brazil, which was not on the first list of authorized countries, remains prohibited from shipping proteins to the bloc from September 3rd. The new regulation unifies all previously published rules and alters the list of countries that did not provide sufficient guarantees justifying the absence of certain antibiotics in livestock products exported to the European market. The consolidated regulation prohibits the import of meat and livestock by-products that have received treatments to encourage growth or increase yield, as well as products that list medications that are for exclusive human use. In practice, Brazilian producers of beef, horses, aquaculture, honey, offal and poultry will be prohibited from exporting their products and by-products to the European market from September 3rd. The EU states that Brazil has not guaranteed that the necessary measures have been implemented to date. Last week, the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (Mapa) presented a private protocol for exporting cattle free of antimicrobial treatment, which was approved. However, according to a source close to Globo Rural, the EU is not showing any willingness to accept Brazil's arguments and, even if the document is accepted, it is impossible to certify any animals before September. Mapa requested a transition period from the bloc in order to immediately prove that the products were not used in the final months of the cattle's lives produced in the country, but the request was rejected.

This text was translated by machine from Brazilian Portuguese.