Ban on Brazilian chickens stands

Dar es Salaam. The ban on importation of poultry products from Brazil – imposed a decade ago during the bird flu epidemic – has not been lifted, the government has said.

Ms Mary Mashingo, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Livestock Development, reiterated the need for the Tanzanian authorities to continue protecting their people against bird flu in an interview with The Citizen Wednesday.

“Since the bird flu problem we have been very cautious, protecting our people from the flu, which is not only a danger to poultry, but also to humans. We, therefore, banned importation of the products from Brazil to protect our consumers and poultry farmers,” she said.

This also comes in the wake of reports from the Washington-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), alleging that Brazil uses forced labour in its poultry industry.

Released to the Thomson Reuters Foundation last month, the allegation in the report has apparently caused some African countries, including the continent’s powerhouse, South Africa, to boycott Brazilian chicken meat.

Reports from South Africa say the poultry industry regulatory body has urged the government to investigate the latest allegations of forced labour in Brazil’s poultry business. The South American country is the world’s largest poultry exporter.

In Tanzania, the government also stopped consignments of poultry meat from Brazil entering Zanzibar.

The IATP report further reveals that thousands of South African workers have lost their jobs because of dumped chicken imports from Brazil, which has now been exposed as a country where workers are subjected to degrading working conditions and forced labour.

The poultry business in South Africa has for several years now been battling competition from Brazil, the European Union and the United States.