Saudi Arabia suspends imports from 2 BRF poultry plants

Two BRF plants in Brazil have been suspended from exporting poultry products to Saudi Arabia, the company announced.

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(www.gesagro.com.br)
(www.gesagro.com.br)

Two BRF plants in Brazil have been suspended from exporting poultry products to Saudi Arabia, the company announced.

In an announcement to the market on the BRF investor relations webpage, the company stated that on February 16, BRF became aware that the Saudi Food and Drug Authority (SFDA) gave an official notice that two of BRF’s facilities – one in Dois Vizinhos and the other in Francisco Beltrao – have been suspended from exporting chicken meat to Saudia Arabia.

According to the SFDA notice, the measure is temporary. The authority is requesting from Brazilian authorities more details about investigations between 2014 and 2018 concerning alleged violations from BRF concerning the production of feed and premix – a preparation containing vitamins and amino acids.

According to BRF, the temporary trade suspension will only affect operations in Dois Vizinhos, which presently exports about 6,000 tons per month to Saudi Arabia. Products from the Francisco Beltrao plant have not been recently exporting to Saudi Arabia.

BRF, in its announcement, stated: “The company has already initiated the necessary adjustments to redirect the production to its other plants, until the matter is duly clarified, still possessing five plants with permissions to export to Saudi Arabia. The plants of Dois Vizinhouse and Francisco Beltrao will be utilized, as for now, to serve other markets.”

BRF said it has “cooperated fully and continuously” with Brazilian and international authorities in the matter, the company and will not tolerate any deviations from its production process in terms of quality or integrity. Therefore, it has intensified its internal controls, compliance and quality structures in recent years aiming to guarantee strict adherence to any and all worldwide sanitary legislations.

BRF stated that it will keep its shareholders and the market in general informed in any future and relevant developments regarding the situation with Saudi Arabia.

BRF, according to the WATTAgNet Top Poultry Companies Database, is the second largest poultry company in Brazil and the third largest in the world.

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