The federal government has confirmed that Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi is due to travel to Washington DC today (17 July) to discuss the possibility of reopening the US market to Brazilian beef. On 22 June US Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue announced the temporary suspension of all imports of fresh beef from Brazil due to recurring concerns about the safety of the products intended for the US market. These concerns are related to the irregularities uncovered by the so-called ‘weak meat’ scandal in which a Brazilian police investigation found that local abattoirs regularly bribed local health and sanitation officials so that they would approve the sale of unsanitary meat products. At the time Perdue announced that the suspension is due to remain in place until Brazil’s agriculture ministry “takes corrective action which the [US Department of Agriculture] USDA finds satisfactory”. According to a press release by the Brazilian government, Maggi is due to meet Perdue along with Brazil’s ambassador to the US, Sérgio Amaral, and Brazil's agricultural attaché in the US, Luiz Claudio de Caruso e Santana.
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