Longford MEP says ex-food safety boss supports his claim Brazilian beef ban deadline cannot be met

Independent Ireland MEP Ciaran Mullooly and Longford group at the Mercosur trade deal protest in Athlone last January where there was strong concerns raised over Brazilian beef exports into Ireland and the EU. | Local Library

placeholder image — Independent Ireland MEP Ciaran Mullooly and Longford group at the Mercosur trade deal protest in Athlone last January where there was strong concerns raised over Brazilian beef exports into Ireland and the EU. | Local Library

Patrick Wall has backed a claim by Longford MEP Ciaran Mullooly that it is now neither safe nor technically possible for Brazilian beef to be restored onto a list of safe exporting countries by September 3.

The former chairman of the European Food Safety Authority Patrick Wall has publicly backed a claim by Independent Ireland MEP Ciaran Mullooly that it is now neither safe nor technically possible for Brazilian beef to be restored onto a list of safe countries for exporting beef into Ireland and the EU from September 3 next.

Mr Wall has said he will accept an invitation from the Independent Ireland MEP to go to Brussels to meet officials and give further information on the issue in the coming weeks.

Mr Wall, who is former chief executive of the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, met with the Midlands North West MEP and Dail Deputy Michael Fitzmaurice over the weekend and said afterwards the Brazilian authorities could not meet the deadline set to deal with concerns over the use of microbials and illegal growth promoters set out by the European Commission.

"So now they have three months to get their act together and it's not possible""Mr Wall said, "Because in September the animals being killed in September will be two years old in September when they're being killed, and you can't go back two years and retrospectively get traceability.

“So they might start in September going forward but they won't be able to go back two years so it won't be possible."

After the meeting Longford MEP Mr Mullooly wrote to Olivér Várhelyi , EU Commissioner for Health and Animal Welfare - asking him to ensure the ban now stays in place in Brazilian beef entering Ireland and Europe and pass on Mr Wall's comments to DG SANTE auditors:

"The message is clear " MEP Mullooly said, " I also feel it is incumbent on me to seek a clear commitment from you that Brazilian beef cannot be restored to the safe list of EU Countries in the foreseeable future until this situation has been addressed.”

“Public health and food safety are of the highest concern to me as both an MEP and an EU food consumer.

“I hope you will agree with me that we cannot simply proceed in these circumstances without first addressing the public concerns and must await scientifically proven guarantees on antimicrobial and growth promoter use in Brazil before any move to restore Brazilian beef to a list of safe countries."

Roscommon Galway TD Michael Fitzmaurice has now called on the Irish Government to raise Dr Wall's statement at the highest possible level in the European Commission.

He said, “I think it's important that all governments, our government and the rest of the governments throughout Europe start sending a very clear message to the Commission that this has to stop on the 3rd of September, that we have jumped the gun already in my opinion with the Mercosur deal for the simple reason that it doesn’t add up and it just ended up that you'd be on a level playing field and I think in fairness to farmers in all of Europe the one thing you ask for is a level playing field. "