The European Union's suspension of poultry meat imports from Brazil took effect on Wednesday under its rules on antimicrobial use in animal production. Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2026/1189 removes Brazil's authorisation to export poultry and several other animal products after the country failed to provide sufficient guarantees of compliance by the 3 September deadline.

AVEC, the association of European poultry processors and traders, welcomed the decision as reciprocity in practice. Exporting countries were formally notified of the requirements in 2023, it said, while EU producers have lived with a complete ban on antibiotics as growth promoters since January 2006. 'It is only fair — and essential to the global fight against antimicrobial resistance — that imported poultry meat is supported by equally robust guarantees,' said secretary general Birthe Steenberg.

The suspension does not mean Brazilian chicken is unsafe, AVEC stressed: it reflects Brazil's failure so far to show that its official control system can reliably guarantee exported poultry is free of growth-promoting antimicrobials and of antimicrobials the EU reserves for human medicine. Brazil brought in a new traceability and control system on 1 July 2026 once its market access came under threat — evidence, the association said, that reciprocity drives improvement.

A European Commission audit of Brazilian poultry and honey production began on 24 August. AVEC asked the Commission for clarity on the next steps and a possible timetable, and argued that Brazil should be relisted only when the new system is verified as fully operational, warning against a lower verification threshold given poultry's shorter production cycle than beef.

The association also wants the Brazil case to become the model for EU enforcement generally: documentary assurances backed by risk-based on-site audits applied consistently to all major suppliers, with follow-up on Commission audit findings in countries such as China.

Source: The Poultry Site