UK urged to ban imports of Brazilian meat over health concerns

Brazil failed to prove compliance with EU rules on use of antibiotics in cattle and poultry farming

The UK’s leading farming organisations and animal health experts have called for an urgent ban on imports of Brazilian meat, in light of concerns over the safety of imports.

The National Farmers’ Union in England and its sister organisations in the devolved administrations wrote to the government on Friday warning that public health was at risk.

Brazilian cattle and poultry are feared to be frequently reared with the routine use of antibiotics, after the country failed to demonstrate compliance with EU rules on the issue despite a tightening of some regulations by the government.

The overuse of antibiotics in farming is a leading cause of the growth of superbugs , which are resistant to antibiotic medicines critical for human health .

Next week, the EU will ban imports of Brazilian beef and chicken over the same concerns, but Brexit means the UK can refuse to follow suit. Imports to the UK from Brazil have risen strongly since Brexit, from about £3bn in 2021 to £5bn in 2025, of which meat is a big component. In 2024 Brazil accounted for about an eighth of UK chicken imports .

Farmers, who are already concerned about falling meat prices while input prices for feed and energy have risen , fear that with the closure of the EU market to Brazilian meat exports, more will be diverted to the UK.

Although Brazil has moved to restrict the routine use of antibiotics on farms, an investigation published last year by the Irish Farmers Journal and the Irish Farmers’ Association found that Brazilian farmers had easy access to antibiotics classified as highest-priority critically important in human medicine, without a veterinary prescription, and that traceability rules were not being applied .

Cóilín Nunan, of the Alliance to Save Our Antibiotics, said: “The rise of antibiotic resistance is a global health crisis. Each year it is directly responsible for about 1.14m deaths and associated with 4.71m deaths.

“We know that resistant pathogens can spread internationally on food. So why are we still importing meat from countries like Brazil that are allowing the irresponsible use on intensive farms of even the most critically important antibiotics?”

Tom Bradshaw, president of the NFU, which represents farming businesses, in July met the secretary of state for the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, Angela Eagle, to demand a ban but the government has so far refused one.

A spokesperson for Defra told the Guardian: “Our experts have sought urgent information and assurances from Brazil as part of a rapid assessment of beef and poultry production systems to ensure our high food and animal welfare standards are being met, while closely monitoring market impacts of the EU ban.