Beef Exporters Back Ban on Chilean Salmon

BRAZIL - The Brazilian beef exporters have backed a ban on salmon from neighbouring Chile because of concerns over the safety of the fish.

14 April 2008

2 minute read

South America

The exporters' association Abiec said it had backed the ministry of agriculture in its ban on the import of fruit from Chile because of a mite, so it also needed to take similar action against the threat from Chilean salmon.

Antonio Camardelli, the executive director of Abiec said that Chile had been imposing a ban on Brazilian beef since October 2005 because of the discovery of foot and mouth disease in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul.

Snr Camardelli said that Chilean resistance to reopening the market is not justified and it was a unilateral attack on Brazil.

He said that the Chilean aquaculture system not only does not declare that it uses astaxanthin to colour the salmon sold in Brazil, but it also faces problems with a virus, infectious anaemia, that is affecting fish farms in the country.

Snr Camardelli said that the fish farms ought to declare the use of astaxanthin, which is used to make farmed fish pink. He added that the fish farming industry in Chile had also used green malachite, which is a known carcinogen.

This, he said, had already been detected by the EU's rapid detection system and the virus is decimating millions of salmon destined for the US, Japanese and EU markets.

He added that the spread of the virus also raises questions about the increasing use of antibiotics to treat the salmon.

Snr Camardelli said: "Abiec demands that Brazil is protected."

Chile was once the largest export market for Brazilian beef with a value of $200 million. Now, the market has fallen to under $20 million and Chile only takes beef from the state of Rio Grande do Sul.