Brazilian Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina Dias announced that the US has lifted its ban on the import of fresh beef from Brazil with immediate effect.

The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) imposed the ban on Brazilian beef products in June 2017. This came after several shipments failed to clear its food safety checks.

The meat industry considers Brazil to be one of the largest beef producers in the world. It exported fresh and industrialised beef products worth a total of $7.3bn last year.

However, the National Cattlemen Beef Association (NCBA), a US-based marketing organisation and trade association for cattle farmers and ranchers, expressed serious concerns over the re-opening of the market to the Brazilian beef products.

The NCBA international trade and market access senior director said: “NCBA strongly supports science-based trade and the Trump administration’s efforts to enforce science-based trade with all trade partners. But to be clear, NCBA has serious concerns about the re-entry of Brazilian beef to the US market.

“NCBA has frequently questioned the lack of scientific evidence that was used to justify Brazil’s initial access to the US market in 2016 and, unfortunately, we were not surprised when Brazil forfeited its beef access to the US in 2017 due to numerous food safety violations.

“The re-entry of Brazilian beef to the US market only further exacerbates concerns about the use of ‘Product of USA’ labels on beef sold in the US. As the trusted leader and definitive voice of the US beef industry, NCBA will continue leading conversations with USDA and the entire supply chain to address any labels that may allow imported beef to carry a ‘Product of USA’ label.”

The US Department of Agriculture has yet to comment on this latest development.