Image copyright EPA Image caption China and Hong Kong combined buy a quarter of Brazil's red meat exports

China has lifted a total ban on imports of Brazilian meat imposed over allegations that companies have been selling unsafe produce for years.

Brazil's Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi says the move follows a "giant effort" by officials to explain the investigation into tainted food.

Chile and Egypt have also lifted their bans, the Brazilian government says.

Brazil is the world's biggest red meat and poultry exporter, selling more than $12bn (£9.7bn) a year.

The scandal was triggered by a huge federal police operation last week that found evidence that meat-packers had been selling rotten and substandard produce for several years.

China and Chile will keep their import bans for the 21 Brazilian units under investigation by the operation, the government said.

"Lifting this suspension was the result of a giant effort by Brazil to explain that the investigation targeted the conduct of individuals and not the quality of the meat," Mr Maggi told Reuters news agency.

Image copyright AFP Image caption A two-year long police investigation unveiled serious flaws in Brazil's meat inspection procedures

In a statement, Brazil's President Michel Temer said the moves "reaffirm the trust of the international community in our sanitary control, robust and recognized around the world".

Brazil meat exports amount to nearly $14bn (£11bn) each year.

They have fallen sharply since the scandal broke out.

The European Union, which is the main importer of Brazilian meat after China and Hong Kong, announced on Friday that it would reject produce from the plants being investigated.

Health and Food Commissioner Vytenis Andriukaitis will visit Brazil this week to hold emergency meetings with officials and industry leaders before the EU decides on what measures it will adopt.

Brazilian investigators allege that some managers bribed health inspectors and politicians to get government certificates for their products.

The scandal caused a 22% drop in weekly average exports of pork and poultry, Reuters reports. There was no data related to beef exports.</s>Brazil Agriculture Minister, Blairo Maggi (left), leading an investigation to inspect food at the meat processing company JBS Seara food group.

BRASILIA: Brazil won a major victory as it battles to restore credibility amid a tainted meat scandal, with China, Egypt and Chile lifting their bans on its products.

The three countries, which had totally closed their markets to Brazilian meat at the start of last week, said they would open them to all but the 21 Brazilian processing plants under investigation.

Brazil, the world's largest meat exporter, has been reeling since March 17, when police announced the conclusion of the two-year "Operation Weak Flesh" which revealed that some meatpackers paid crooked inspectors to pass off rotten and adulterated meat as safe.

About 20 countries - including the European Union, Japan and Mexico - closed fully or partially their doors to Brazilian meat imports, whose sales brought in over US$13 billion (S$18b) to the Brazilian economy in 2016.

Singapore's Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA) said it does not import any meat from the 21 Brazilian meat processing establishments.

The AVA has stepped up surveillance of imported meat and meat products from Brazil, and is "monitoring the situation closely", while liaising with Brazilian authorities for more details, the authority added.</s>China has lifted a ban on imports of Brazilian meat imposed over allegations that companies have been selling unsafe produce for years.

Brazil's Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi says the move follows a "giant effort" by officials to explain the investigation into tainted food.

Chile and Egypt have also lifted their bans, the Brazilian government says.

Brazil is the world's biggest red meat and poultry exporter, selling more than $12bn (£9.7bn) a year.

The scandal was triggered by a huge federal police operation last week that found evidence that meat-packers had been selling rotten and substandard produce for several years.

China and Chile will keep their import bans for the 21 Brazilian units under investigation by the operation, the government said.

"Lifting this suspension was the result of a giant effort by Brazil to explain that the investigation targeted the conduct of individuals and not the quality of the meat," Mr Maggi told Reuters news agency.

In a statement, Brazil's President Michel Temer said the moves "reaffirm the trust of the international community in our sanitary control, robust and recognized around the world".

The EU, South Korea and Hong Kong had also announced restrictions on Brazilian meat products.

Brazilian investigators allege that some managers bribed health inspectors and politicians to get government certificates for their products.

The scandal caused a 22% drop in weekly average exports of pork and poultry, Reuters reports. There was no data related to beef exports.</s>Meat products are seen in a cold storage room at a supermarket in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, during an inspection by the state's consumer protection agency, PROCON, on Friday (AFP photo)

CAIRO, BRASILIA — Egypt said on Saturday it would resume importing meat from Brazil after a brief suspension following allegations that exporters in the Latin American country had sold tainted beef and poultry.

"We suspended it (this week) until we found out what happened and now it's back, but we won't import anything from slaughter houses or factories that have a problem," said Mona Mehrez, a deputy to the agriculture minister.

Brazilian meat exports were worth $63 million a day until last week's announcement by police of "Operation Weak Flesh," which revealed that some meatpackers had paid crooked inspectors to pass off rotten and adulterated meat as safe.

Brazil's government had appealed Wednesday to the World Trade Organisation's (WTO) 163 other members not to impose "arbitrary" bans on the country's more than $13 billion meat export industry.

Also on Saturday, Brazil said that major trading partner China had lifted a ban on the imports of its products.

"China announced today it has fully reopened its market to Brazilian meat," Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi said in a statement.

Maggi did not say when the resumption of Brazilian meat imports, suspended on Monday by China, would take effect.

The minister said China will keep in place only its import restrictions on meat from 21 Brazilian processing plants under investigation over the tainted meat scandal.

China is the second-largest importer of Brazilian beef, after Hong Kong, with more than $703 million in imports in 2016. For both meat and poultry, China also was in second place with nearly $859.5 million in imports.

The reopening of the Chinese market "attests to the rigour and quality of the Brazilian sanitary system" and "shows the spirit of mutual confidence between our two countries," Maggi said.

The scandal emerged on March 17 when Brazilian police said they had uncovered a scheme to bribe corrupt health inspectors at those processing plants to certify tainted meat as fit for consumption.

On Monday, China suspended all Brazilian meat imports, and Hong Kong took the same step the next day.

On Friday, Hong Kong announced it will recall Brazilian meat from the 21 processing plants under investigation.</s>Egypt said on Saturday it would resume importing meat from Brazil after a brief suspension following allegations that exporters in the Latin American country had sold tainted beef and poultry.

"We suspended it (this week) until we found out what happened and now it's back, but we won't import anything from slaughter houses or factories that have a problem," said Mona Mehrez, a deputy to the agriculture minister.

Brazilian meat exports were worth $63 million a day until last week's announcement by police of "Operation Weak Flesh," which revealed that some meatpackers had paid crooked inspectors to pass off rotten and adulterated meat as safe.

Brazil's government had appealed Wednesday to the World Trade Organization's (WTO) 163 other members not to impose "arbitrary" bans on the country's more than $13 billion meat export industry.</s>Egypt has resumed imports of Brazilian meat, the agriculture ministry said on Saturday, two days after it said it was suspending it until the meat was confirmed safe for consumption.

The ministry said in a statement that it had resumed imports from authorized Brazilian slaughterhouses, adding that shipments would, however, be subject to checks both in the country of origin and on arrival in Egypt.

Brazil had been investigating how meatpackers allegedly paid off inspectors to overlook practices, including processing rotten meat, shipping exports with traces of salmonella and not carrying out inspections of plants.

The companies involved have denied any wrongdoing and authorities have said that no cases of death or illness have been linked to the tainted meat investigation.

The China’s Commerce Ministry had said on Thursday that it was concerned about the quality of Brazilian meat and took a decision to temporarily halt the import from the country.

“As the largest importer of meat from Brazil, China expresses concerns about the quality of Brazilian meat.

“Chinese authorities have taken temporary measures in a timely manner,” Commerce Ministry spokesman Sun Jiwen said.

However, China, the European Union, South Korea and Chile have also suspended meat import from the Brazil.</s>Brazil won a major victory Saturday in the fight to restore credibility amid a tainted meat scandal, with key markets China, Egypt and Chile lifting their bans on its products.

The announcement of the reopening of the Chinese market to Brazilian meat imports did not come from Beijing, but from Brazilian agriculture minister Blairo Maggi who said the decision "attests to the rigor and quality of the Brazilian sanitary system."

Though the minister said China had "fully reopened" its market, he also noted China would maintain import restrictions on meat from 21 Brazilian processing plants under investigation.

President Michel Temer, in a statement, welcomed China's decision as an "acknowledgement of reliability" and expressed his "total confidence" that "other countries will follow the example of China."

Brazil, South America's largest economy and the world's largest meat exporter, has been reeling since March 17 when Brazilian police announced "Operation Weak Flesh."

The two-year investigation revealed that some meatpackers had paid crooked inspectors to pass off rotten and adulterated meat as safe.

China quickly suspended all Brazilian meat imports on Monday, and Hong Kong followed suit the next day.

China is the second-largest importer of Brazilian beef, after Hong Kong, with more than $703 million in imports in 2016. For both meat and poultry, China also was in second place with nearly $859.5 million in imports.

Two other countries -- Egypt and Chile -- announced Saturday the resumption of meat imports from Brazil, with exceptions.

"We suspended it (this week) until we found out what happened and now it's back, but we won't import anything from slaughterhouses or factories that have a problem," said Mona Mehrez, a deputy to the agriculture minister in Egypt, the third-largest importer of Brazilian beef, at $551.2 million.

Chile said it was lifting the ban except on imports of beef, pork and poultry from the 21 plants under investigation.

Chile, the sixth-largest importer of Brazilian meat, at more than $300 million, had suspended all imports Monday, prompting Brazil to threaten retaliatory measures against its Latin American trade partner.

Other markets, including the European Union, Japan and Mexico, have announced bans on imports from the 21 businesses under investigation.

Officials have been scrambling to contain the damage, both domestically and with trade partners. Police have arrested more than 30 people and three plants have been closed.

The scandal has rocked one of the strongest sectors in Brazil's economy, which has been grappling with its worst recession for more than two years.

Brazilian meat is exported to more than 150 countries, with principal markets as far apart as Saudi Arabia, China, Singapore, Japan, Russia, the Netherlands and Italy.

Sales in 2016 reached $5.9 billion in poultry and $4.3 billion in beef, according to Brazilian government data.

On Wednesday, the government appealed to the World Trade Organization's 163 other members not to impose "arbitrary" bans on the country's more than $13 billion meat export industry.

In its letter to the WTO, Brazil pressed its message that a few bad apples are at fault for the scandal and that the Brazilian food industry itself is in good health.

It pointed out that of 11,000 employees at the agriculture ministry, 2,300 work as inspectors on animal products and "only 33 individuals are being investigated for improper conduct."

The president several times has pointed out that only 184 consignments of meat were deemed by importers to be in violation of standards, among the 853,000 consignments exported in 2016.</s>Basseterre, St. Kitts-With many countries imposing bans on importing meat from Brazil, the question remains on what will be done in St. Kitts and Nevis?

As of press time, no formal indication has been made from any official in St. Kitts and Nevis on whether there will be a ban implemented on meats from that market which the Federation has been using as a source for importing pork and other meats.

However, investigations reportedly are underway in St. Kitts and Nevis to determine if the local market had been stocked recently with any meat from Brazil.

The Observer reached out to the Permanent Secretary on the Ministry of Agriculture who directed us to speak to either the Chief Medical Officer Dr. Hazel Laws or the Chief Veterinary Officer Dr. Tracy Challenger.

Dr. Challenger told The Observer a decision had been reached in the matter and that a statement would be released shortly. However up until press time Thursday, no such information had yet been disseminated and this publication was able to confirm with a food distributor that no corn beef product had been recalled.

The Observer understands that whatever decision that had been reached would have to be passed on to the relevant Ministers for ratification.

In other parts of the Caribbean Jamaica was the first country earlier this week to announce an embargo on Brazilian corned beef following the reports. Government officials also warned people not to consume Brazilian corned beef indefinitely and announced plans to remove the product from supermarket shelves.

Quickly following Jamaica’s lead were Trinidad and Tobago where media reports indicate that the Ministry of Agriculture made requests for a recall of the possibly contaminated products and put a ban on any meats coming from Brazil.

Other Caribbean countries such as St. Lucia, Barbados and Dominica have also announced plans to ban importing meat from Brazil

CNBC reports that raids conducted last week by Brazilian federal police at several meat-producing plants and the arrest of more than two dozen people was the result of an investigation that multiple major Brazilian meat processors had been selling rotten beef and poultry.

The scandal also involves allegations that government inspectors allowed the rotten and salmonella-tainted meat products to be marketed around the world in exchange for bribes.

The Brazilian companies at the center of the investigation are JBS and BRF. Both deny any wrongdoing. The Brazilian government has since shut down those companies.</s>In its first official comment, China's Commerce Ministry confirmed it had suspended all shipments from Brazil, the world's top beef exporter, and said it was extremely concerned with quality issues in the country's meat industry.

"China has promptly adopted temporary measures and suspended Brazilian meat imports," spokesman Sun Jiwen told reporters at a regular briefing in Beijing.

Some of China's largest food suppliers have pulled Brazilian beef and poultry from their shelves, while countries including Japan and Canada have also banned imports from Brazil after inspectors there were accused of taking bribes to allow sales of tainted food.

Brazil is the top supplier of beef to China, accounting for about 31 percent of its imports in the first half of last year. Much of it is used in canteens and foodservice.

Sun said China expected Brazil to investigate the issues thoroughly and adopt effective measures to ensure the safety of its meat.

"China hopes the Brazilian government will punish firms and individuals that broke the rules harshly," he added, calling for more cooperation between the two countries to ensure Brazlian meat imports are safe.

"We hope responsible departments in both countries can further collaborate to prevent and deal with possible issues in the meat trade," Sun said.</s>China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) chose to recall all the frozen and chilled meat and poultry imported from the 21 Brazilian plants that are under investigation for a massive meat adulteration scheme, the food safety authority said Friday.

Brazilian President Michel Temer said he would call his Chinese counterpart to urge China to review its import ban.

Brazil has won a major victory in the fight to restore credibility amid a tainted meat scandal, with key markets China, Egypt and Chile lifting their bans on its products.

Three meat plants were also closed on the same charges; and 18 other factories that export products to Egypt were placed under supervision.

Brazilian federal police raided some of the country’s largest food corporations following accusations that employees had bribed inspectors to allow meat contaminated with salmonella to be imported to Europe and tainted meat to be served at public schools.

Operation Weak Flesh was launched in the early hours of Friday in six Brazilian states after a two-year investigation. China also agreed to lift restrictions on Australian beef imports, adding to competition for Brazil in one of the world’s fastest-growing markets.

The kingdom’s Food & Drug Authority stopped imports of beef, poultry and products from four plants operated by BRF SA, Seara Alimentos Ltda, JJZ Alimentos SA and Frango DM Industria e Comercio de Alimentos Ltda, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

According to the ministry of agriculture, China’s ban on Brazilian products will be suspended tomorrow, with the exception of meat processed in 21 plants still under investigation by Brazilian authorities.

Brazil is the world’s biggest red meat and poultry exporter. Market sources in the USA and the European Union have been limited since 2015 because of avian flu outbreaks.

The scandal has rocked one of the strongest sectors in Brazil’s economy, which has been grappling with its worst recession for more than two years.

The ministry said in a statement that the resumption of importing these products would be from the slaughterhouses approved by Egypt’s General Organization for Veterinary Services (GOVS).

The president several times has pointed out that only 184 consignments of meat were deemed by importers to be in violation of standards, among the 853,000 consignments exported in 2016.
China, Chile and Egypt lift their bans on importing meat from Brazil.