It was US$ 7.95 billion from January to December last year; case of mad cow in Pará interrupted trade of the product
Beef exports from Brazil to China more than doubled in 2022. They went from US$ 3.906 billion in 2021 to US$ 7.950 billion in 2022. Ministry of Industry, Commerce and Services Development.
Protein is an important product of Brazil’s international trade. Brazil sold US$ 11.81 billion of “fresh, chilled or frozen beef” to the world. Exports to China alone account for 67%.
In January 2023 alone, the sale of protein to China totaled US$ 483.3 million. The value exceeds what was exported to the 2nd largest destination for Brazilian beef, the United States, in the entire year of 2022.
O Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock announced on Wednesday (22.Feb.2023) the temporary suspension of beef trade with China. The reason: the confirmation of a case of “Crazy Cow” in Marabá (PA).
BSE (bovine spongiform encephalopathy) is a degenerative disease caused by a prion (infectious particle formed by a protein mutation). The particle is smaller than a virus and does not configure a living being.
In cattle, the prion progressively affects the nervous system and causes altered behavior and irritability – hence the name “Crazy Cow”. Evil leads to the death of the animal in 100% of cases. There is no treatment or vaccine against the disease.
There are two forms of the disease: the typical (or classic) and the atypical. According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock, the disease is considered atypical “when it originates within the body of the bovine, it occurs spontaneously and sporadically and is not related to the ingestion of contaminated food”.
The classic form of “mad cow disease” is transmitted through food, which can lead to rapid spread in a herd.
In animals, it occurs through the ingestion of meat and bone meal, nervous tissue, poultry litter, pig manure or any other type of food that contains proteins of animal origin.
The prion incubation period ranges from 2 to 10 years – therefore, the occurrence of cases is more common in older cattle.
The most common symptoms are changes in the animals’ sociable behavior, causing aggression, excessive fear, depression and isolation. Infection in the nervous system also affects the motor system and causes muscle tremors, loss of coordination and difficulty moving around.
In humans, transmission occurs by eating contaminated meat or by transfusing blood from another person with the presence of this protein particle and causes a variant called Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, with effects similar to “mad cow disease“.
The 1st case of the disease was reported in the United Kingdom, in 1986. It became an epidemic in the country in the 1990s and led to the sacrifice of millions of animals to contain the outbreak, which spread to at least 25 other countries, including Brazil.
It is a federal crime to feed ruminants (cattle, buffaloes, sheep and goats) with poultry litter (also known as chicken litter) or with residues from the exploitation of other animals, as there is a risk of indirect ingestion of feed remains. , resulting in risk if reused in feeding the herd.
Currently, the disease has risk status “insignificant” in Brazil, according to WHOA (World Organization for Animal Health). This is the mildest classification prepared by the organization.
CASES ARE RARE IN BRAZIL
Before the confirmation of 1 diagnosis of the disease in Marabá (PA) on Wednesday (Feb 22), the last time Brazil had registered cases of “mad cow” was in September 2021, in slaughterhouses in Nova Canaã do North (MT) and Belo Horizonte (MG).
This is the 6th case registered in the history of the country, which has adopted a surveillance protocol for 23 years.
According to Adepará (Agropecuary Defense Agency of the State of Pará), the most recent report was identified in 1 9-year-old bull from a small property in the southwest of the State. The site contains about 160 head of cattle.
A sample of the case was sent for analysis at a laboratory specializing in the study of the disease in Alberta, Canada.
A health protocol signed in 2015 between Brazil and China, the country’s main beef importer, provides for an immediate freeze on exports until confirmation that it is an isolated case. The measure came into effect on Thursday (Feb 23).
In an interview with Rural Channel on Thursday (Feb 23), the Minister of Agriculture and Livestock, Carlos Favaro, said that the government may request a review of the terms to avoid damage to the sector. The president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (EN) has official trip to Beijing scheduled for March 28.
“It’s the protocol that was built, it’s what was possible at a previous moment for us to open export. And exports to China are very relevant for Brazil, it is something around US$ 8 billion per year, 61% of our exports”, said Favaro.
“Now, from the moment we show all this transparency when a case is detected, all this speed — both in communication and in analyses, we gain credibility and we can call them to review this protocol. But all in good time, all in good time.” completed.
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