TIRANA, May 15 – Albanian authorities say they have blocked 26 metric tons of Brazilian poultry after tests confirmed the presence of salmonella bacteria posing a threat to consumers.
The blockage marks the first load of meat coming from Brazil that is officially confirmed as contaminated after the late March global alarm over the safety of meat coming from Brazil, the world’s largest meat producer.
The country’s National Food Authority says the cargo imported by a local Albanian company was blocked after tests carried out by the specialized Food Safety and Veterinary Institute confirmed the presence of salmonella at the inspection unit of the Durres Port, the country’s biggest.
Since early April, soon after some of the world’s biggest consumers of Brazilian meat temporary banned imports from Brazil over safety concerns, Albania has ordered tests on every cargo of meat imports from Brazil, accounting for a quarter of total meat imports, mainly poultry and pork.
Last March’s Brazilian meat scandal was triggered by a huge police operation that found evidence of some meat packers selling rotten and substandard produce for several years, in an operation severely affecting exports of Latin America’s largest economy.
Albania’s trade exchanges with Brazil are quite small.
Albania’s imports from Brazil dominated by meat, coffee and sugar slightly increased to 5.7 billion lek (€41 million) in 2016, accounting for only about 1.2 percent of the country’s total, according to state statistical institute, INSTAT. Meanwhile, Albania’s exports to Brazil are almost non-existent.
