MEP Mireia Borrás Pabón (PfE) has submitted a written parliamentary question to the European Commission, pressing it on the delayed enforcement of a ban on Brazilian meat imports and the potential risks to EU consumers. The question, filed on 10 June 2026, targets the Commission's decision to allow imports of meat and other products from Brazil to continue until 3 September 2026, despite a vote by the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed (PAFF Committee) on 12 May 2026 to ban such imports due to the use of prohibited antimicrobials in Brazilian livestock production.
Borrás Pabón's question contains three concrete asks. First, she asks whether the Commission considers there to be a current risk to the health of EU consumers given the two-month gap between the PAFF vote and the ban's enforcement. Second, she requests the percentage of imports from Mercosur countries currently subject to physical and analytical border checks. Third, she asks, if serious breaches have already been detected in the small number of checks carried out, how many non-compliant products the Commission estimates could be entering the EU undetected.
The question reflects a policy orientation favouring stricter enforcement of EU food safety and antimicrobial resistance rules, and greater scrutiny of imports under the EU-Mercosur agreement, which provisionally entered into force and aims to increase agri-food imports. The MEP's concerns highlight a cleavage between consumer health protection and trade liberalisation, with potential impacts on EU consumers (who may face health risks from non-compliant imports), Brazilian meat producers (who could lose market access), EU livestock producers (who face competition from imports not subject to the same antimicrobial bans), and EU border inspection authorities (who would need to increase checks).
The Commission is expected to reply within approximately six weeks. Its answer will signal whether it prioritises trade continuity or immediate enforcement of food safety rules, and may reveal the scale of current border checks and non-compliance estimates.
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