Corned Beef Ban Lifted by BAHA, Health

The Belize Agricultural Health Authority and Ministry of Health have lifted the temporary ban on the importation of corned beef from Brazil. BAHA says it has confirmed that the popular food item imported into the country is not contaminated.  A report in March attributed to Brazilian authorities said that corned beef from several meat processing plants had been tainted. BAHA says that after testing, consumers can be assured that the corned beef imported from Brazil is safe for human consumption. Director, Doctor Miguel Figueroa explains.

On the Phone: Dr. Miguel Figueroa, Director, BAHA

“The first time we met with the importers of corned beef, we put some measures in place because of the scandal happening in Brazil. One of those was to suspend all importation, temporary suspension for all importation. What we also did was quarantine the warehouses that had corned beef and we conducted testing on samples of corned beef from the warehouses as well as retail shops and supermarkets. So now that we did all the testing, they told us that they didn’t have any pathogens; they were negative. We tested for salmonella and Ecola as they were good…we didn’t detect any of these pathogens. And as well we verified that whatever the importers were bringing, the corned beef weren’t from the company that was linked to the scandal. And based on that, we lifted the temporary suspension.”

BAHA and MoH are therefore releasing all corned beef at warehouses that were placed under quarantine. BAHA also says it will continue to ensure the safety of all products imported into Belize in order to safeguard the public.