Quick Take — Imports of Brazilian meat into Europe to be halted from 3 September. The country’s authorities are working to have the ban lifted

…The measure was unanimously approved on 12 May by the 27 EU countries.

The decision concerns cattle, horses, poultry, eggs, aquaculture products, honey and casings, and was taken by a committee comprising experts from EU Member States due to the use of antibioticsandgrowth-promoting hormones in livestock farming, as reported in L’informatore zootecnico.

Brazil is a key trading partner for Europe in this sector: according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture, between January and March 2026, Brazilian meat exports to the EUhad already reached508.7 million dollars, amounting to 116.5 thousand tonnes.

In 2025, the EU purchased animal proteins from Brazil worth approximately 1.8 billion dollars, equivalent to 368,100 tonnes. After China, it is the second-largest market for Brazilian meat…

It is a serious matter that Brazil is not considering removing the banned substances but is only thinking about lifting the ban. And that nobody knows anything about the illegal meat that has already been sold. Nobody is talking any more about Mercosur, which has already come into force.

Quick Take — Banana cultivation: a pesticide paradise

Banana plantations stretch across Ecuador, Costa Rica, Peru, the Philippines and Colombia: territories where the climate is perfect for growing the fruit… and pests. To protect the crops, pesticides and herbicides are used in quantities that a European farmer would not see in an entire career.

All companies claim to follow ‘sustainability’ programmes, but the truth is that a banana at 1.49 €/kg cannot guarantee fair wages, cover ocean transports and ensure clean agriculture. Someone along the supply chain always pays the price: often the health of those who work… and those who consume

Below:

1 some of the pesticides mentioned by ‘Guess who’s coming to dinner’ (Rai3) were also found in organic bananas and are banned in the EU but enter it because there are no reciprocity clauses between South America and Europe.

This problem could be changed by a proper implementation of the Mercosur treaty .

2 the label of the Esselunga Bio Ctm Altromercatobananas.

Read also this article on Esselunga private label bananas and in the GD, in general. On pesticides you can read here.

Compiled 10 December 2025, updated 19 March 2026

Food, environment and health: what could happen with the Mercosur-EU agreement

Mercosur: it is obvious that the ‘invasion’ risk of uncontrolled products, without the safeguard clauses, is likely to exacerbate the risks to our health. But the real problem is that in the European Union there are ‘derogation’ authorisations that allow prohibited substances to be used by member countries to compete unfairly with their neighbours. So before lashing out at Mercosur, perhaps we need to put things in order in Europe

Quick Take — Mercosur: why we move forward

The Commission wants to apply it provisionally at the urging of Germany whose industry, faced with the fact that it can no longer buy cheap Russian gas and the invasion of Chinese products (e.g. cars), is in great difficulty and needs outlets.

France, with its agriculture, which is also in great difficulty, especially on the livestock and meat fronts, on the other hand, is opposed and disappointed.