BRF poultry plant resumes operations

A BRF poultry plant in Mineiros, Brazil, has resumed operations after being closed amid the Operation Weak Flesh investigation.

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PicsFive, Bigstock.com
PicsFive, Bigstock.com

A BRF poultry plant in Mineiros, Brazil, has resumed operations after being closed amid the Operation Weak Flesh investigation.

According to an announcement to the market published on the BRF website, the company announced that it had received clearance from the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Foodstock and Supply (MAPA) to resume operations.

MAPA officials audited the facility, which slaughters and processes chickens and turkeys, and gave the company to resume plant production and the sale of products processed from the lab.

The plant in Mineiros has the capacity and authorization to slaughter 26,000 turkeys and 115,000 chickens per day, according to the company.

BRF was one of several Brazilian meat and poultry companies implicated in Operation Weak Flesh, an investigation launched on March 17, in which meat companies were accused of bribing Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Farming inspectors to allow spoiled or adulterated meat to be sold and exported.

BRF has maintained its innocence and has stated that the Mineiros plant, already vetoed by the government, was enabled by countries as demanding as Canada, the European Union, Russia and Japan. 

The scandal has been harmful to the Brazilian poultry industry, as studies from the Brazilian Association of Animal Protein (ABPA) show that total shipments of chicken meat decreased 4.1 percent in March when compared to the same month of the previous year. Francisco Turra, ABPA CEO, said a key factor in the decline was decreased sales to markets that placed embargoes on imports in the week following Operation Weak Flesh. March chicken meat exports amounted to 386,400 metric tons, according to the ABPA, down from the 402,900 metric tons exported in March 2016.

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