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São Paulo.- Brazil, the world's largest producer and exporter of beef, was declared free of foot-and-mouth disease without vaccination by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OMSA), according to an announcement this Thursday by the Brazilian employers' association.
The Brazilian Association of Refrigerators (Abrafrigo) stated that this declaration is "a historic moment for the beef agro-industrial chain."Read more: They denounce the import of meat from Brazil, a country declared positive for "Mad Cow" and "Foot-and-Mouth Disease"
The health status was approved during the 92nd Assembly of the WOAH in Paris, a year after the Brazilian Government announced that the country was free of foot-and-mouth disease, with the consequent end of the immunization campaigns.
With this new status, Brazil will be able to sell its meat to countries with higher sanitary requirements, such as Japan and South Korea, which were previously closed to the South American country's market.
Last March, the Brazilian president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, made an official visit to Japan and discussed with the Japanese authorities precisely the prospects of lifting restrictions on meat imports.
This is a milestone for the country that owns the world's largest commercial herd, with 234.3 million head, and that sells its beef to 90 countries.
The last time the Latin American giant registered an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease was in 2006, when several countries restricted their purchases of Brazilian meat.
But the situation was quickly overcome, which allowed the entire country to be declared free of foot-and-mouth disease with vaccination in 2018.
