EUIBRAZIL: EU CUTS BACK TESTING OH BRAZILIAN CHICKEN

摘要

The European Commission on March 1 officially scaled down its controls on imports of Brazilian poultry meat, paving the way for Brazilian exporters to steal a march on major poultry producer rival Thailand during the Avian Influenza crisis. The new testing regime means that only 20% of consignments will undergo tests for antibiotic residues, down from the 100% level imposed in October 2002 after nitrofurans were discovered in chicken from Brazil. Poultry imports from the South American country have shot up in recent years, from 3,000 tonnes in 1996 to nearly 400,000 tonnes in 2002, according to the EU farming and agricultural co-operative lobby group COPA-COGECA.