More reliability in Brazil’s pig carcass inspection

The new legislation was one of the last decrees put in place by Brazil’s previous president Michel Temer.

Earlier, employees of e.g. Brasil Foods or JBS would recruit these assistants from their own employee pool, following a law from the beginning of the 20^th century. The assistants are responsible, for example, to evaluate carcass colouration manually.

Making animal production more reliable

Mr Temer decided to change the rules in order to make animal production inspection processes more reliable. The Brazilian inspection model was questioned by the European Union as a result of last year’s ‘Carne Fraca’ operation.

Mr Temer, who was succeeded by Jair Bolsonaro by January 1, decreed that slaughterhouses no longer can appoint contract workers as assistants for government inspectors from the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (MAPA).

The new 73^th article of the Regulation for Industrial and Sanitary Inspection of Animal Products (Riispoa) impacts 13,000 workers all around Brazil. It will now follow the EU model for this kind of procedure.

More cameras for more efficiency and quality

The new decree will have to be translated into legislation. Once it has been approved as law, the slaughterhouses will have to only use MAPA-accredited companies for supporting the public veterinary inspectors. The ministry is also planning to use more cameras to improve the efficiency and quality of the inspections.