Brazil needs to make progress on meat inspections before a schedule can be set to end a U.S. ban on imports of fresh Brazilian beef, the U.S. agriculture secretary said.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and his Brazilian counterpart Blairo Maggi met in Washington, last week to discuss the import ban that went into effect on June 22. The United States has said a high percentage of beef imports from Brazil did not pass safety checks.
In June, the United States blocked imports of fresh Brazilian beef, saying that inspectors had found abscesses in the meat and signs of systemic failure of inspections in meat from the world’s largest exporter of beef.
In March, some Brazilian meat packing companies were involved a scandal involving alleged bribery of health officials, which briefly shut Brazil’s protein exports out of major global markets from China to Europe.