Macao will suspend the application of importing frozen meat from Brazil, the special administrative region's civil affairs authorities said on Tuesday night, after Chinese mainland and Hong Kong SAR already banned frozen meat from Brazil.
Macao's Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau (CMAB) told the press that all importers in Macao will be notified to suspend the application and pay attention to the source of their commodities. The government will test the sample from Brazilian frozen meat already arrived in Macao and keep them quarantined until CMAB has the test result.
Macao Frozen Meat Industry Association's chairman Ye Shaowen said Macao has not found frozen meat produced by Brazilian companies involved in a meat adulteration scandal that shocked the food industry.
The Brazilian police uncovered last week a massive meat adulteration scheme involving some of the country's largest meat producers. According to the police, the adulterated meat was sold in the domestic market as well as exported. The scandal led the European Union (EU), South Korea, Chile, among other markets, to announce full or partial suspensions of shipments of frozen meat from Brazil.
Frozen meat import from Brazil accounted for about 40 percent of Macao's food market. Over 1.4 million kilograms all sorts of frozen meat had been imported from Brazil to Macao since this January.
