Abdessalam Chelghoum: “Importing Meat From Brazil Is Controlled”

Over 24.000 tons of meat that was imported from Brazil are subject to control laboratories, Agriculture Minister, Abdessalam Chelghoum, said on Sunday, on the sidelines of the seminar, which focused on the National Media Day program on securing people for the fishing and aquaculture profession at Algiers Sheraton Hotel.

“Agriculture Ministry received a telegram from Brazil confirming that four exporters were behind the corrupt meat scandal that the country has been experiencing for days”.

“Four concerned exporters do not have any business dealings with Algeria”.

Brazil is one of the world’s largest meat exporters, but after the scandal of corrupt meat, tensions are strained within the government, which seeks to clarify matters and retrieve its customers.

Previously, Algeria joined the countries that boycotted Brazilian meat, following the scandal of corrupt meat, which exploded last week.

Sources in the Ministry of Agriculture revealed that “Algeria froze the process of importing Brazilian red meat, last Monday, pending the arrival of the official report of the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture”.

Same source, who works in the veterinary department, said that “the red meat that was recently imported is located at sea, and it will be inspected by Algerian veterinary doctors upon arrival in Algeria in the coming days”.

Algeria imports $ 140 million a year in red and white meat, and Brazil is the first supplier to Algeria, ahead of Argentina, India and Sudan.

Corrupt meat scandal broke out after Brazilian federal police on March 17, 2017, raided dozens of production sites in several Brazilian regions after a two-year investigation.

About 40 companies have been charged with illegal acts, such as bribing health inspectors to approve the sale and export of rotten meat, and adding chemicals to hide poor meat.

List of involved companies included GPS, the world’s largest beef exporter, and PRF, the world’s largest poultry meat producer, which has the brand names Sadia and Berdigao.