Brazil’s ministry of agriculture has said it has adopted an extra safeguard against BSE, or mad cow disease, at the request of the US.
The new measure will ban the slaughter of sick or injured cattle for human consumption, reported Reuters.
The US Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service wrote to ten beef exporters, including Brazil, advising that beef exports to the US would be halted if the countries did not adopt the new safeguards.
Marcio Rezende Carlos, at the Brazilian Agriculture Ministry’s International Trade Control Division, said in a statement that Brazil would follow the US guidelines on so-called “downer” cattle.
“The United States requested that animals that can not stand or walk should not be slaughtered for human consumption,” the statement was quoted by Reuters as saying. “Free of ‘mad cow’ disease, Brazil has adopted the measure to maintain its exports of canned, cooked and frozen beef to the North American market.”
