Resuming poultry imports from Brazil to help stabilise SA food production

MEAT importers and processors have welcomed the government's decision to partially lift the ban on poultry imports from Brazil, saying it will help stabilise local food production and avoid shortages of affordable protein products.

- MANDILAKHE TSHWETE

The Department of Agriculture confirmed that as of yesterday, imports of poultry and poultry products from Brazil will resume, excluding the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, where a bird flu outbreak was reported in May.

The South African Meat Processors Association (SAMPA) said the move would help avert major disruptions in the manufacture of staple products such as polony, viennas, and braai wors, which depend on Mechanically Deboned Meat (MDM) sourced almost entirely from Brazil.

“We are grateful for the urgency displayed by the Department of Agriculture and especially Minister John Steenhuisen, Deputy Director-General Dipeneneng Serage, and his team in averting the full-scale social and humanitarian crisis which the ban imposed on 16 May threatened to unleash,” said SAMPA chairperson Gordon Nicoll.

South Africa does not produce MDM in any meaningful quantity. For the past 12 years, Brazil has supplied about 95% of MDM used in South African meat processing, making it an essential component in affordable processed products like russians, frozen burgers, bangers, meat pies, and corned meat.

The Association of Meat Importers and Exporters (AMIE) also welcomed the department's decision, calling it a necessary, science-based step to protect industry and consumers.