07RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Two months after China said it found residues of Covid-19 in a batch of chicken wings imported from Brazil, Beijing authorities repeated the announcement, but this time in relation to Brazilian beef. Apparently, traces of Covid-19 were detected in beef packaging during an inspection carried out at the Port of Dalian, one of the largest in the country.
The Brazilian embassy in Beijing has already been officially notified of the case.
The meat was produced by the Barretos (SP) unit of the Minerva meatpacker. Barretos is the city where the company was founded 96 years ago. Minerva is the third-largest beef producer in Brazil, behind JBS and Marfrig.
From January to July, Brazil exported 1.1 million tons of beef. This means a turnover of US$ 4.7 billion. Of this total, 60% of the revenue comes directly from China.
When the chicken contagion claim was made two months ago, the municipal authorities of Shenzhen stated that they found the presence of Covid-19 on the product packaging exported by Brazil; however, it was never exactly clear what happened, since the Brazilian authorities were never shown any evidence.