South Africa has officially lifted its eight-week ban on Brazilian poultry imports, including mechanically deboned meat (MDM), a critical input in the production of affordable processed meats such as polony, viennas, russians, and sausages.

But despite this breakthrough, food processors and importers warn that it will take months for supply chains to recover, and food inflation and shortages are likely to persist until November.

The Department of Agriculture announced that the ban was lifted on Tuesday, July 8, after Brazil was officially declared free of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI), or bird flu.

MDM and chicken produced in Brazil after June 18 are now eligible for export to South Africa, provided they pass inspection upon arrival.

The ban was instituted on May 15 following a single outbreak of bird flu on a farm in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.

That isolated case effectively shut down 95% of South Africa’s MDM imports overnight, as Brazil is by far the country’s dominant supplier.

Georg Southey, manager at Merlog Foods, one of South Africa’s largest importers of chilled meats, welcomed the lifting of the ban but warned that the damage to food security has already been immense.

“This situation can recur in the case of another bird flu infection in Brazil,” said Southey.

“What is needed is an agreement between the two countries on a regionalisation protocol, so that a future isolated outbreak does not halt shipments from a very large country.”

Regionalisation is a global animal health standard endorsed by the World Organisation for Animal Health and allows unaffected areas within a country to continue trade even if one region is impacted.

A similar temporary arrangement is already in place with the United States, where individual states can self-declare as bird flu-free.

According to Southey, the delay in reaching an agreement between Brazil and South Africa resulted in massive losses.

“The ban on MDM and items such as chicken livers from Brazil has amplified South Africa’s food security crisis, with an estimated 100 million meals lost each week during the eight-week shipment stall,” he said.

Prices of MDM have surged by 140% during the suspension, and South African producers, particularly those supplying school feeding programmes and lower-income markets, are now battling with shortages and inflationary pressures.

Merlog Foods expects the first MDM imports to resume in the week of July 14, but cautions that it will take at least six to eight weeks to replenish supply chains, as the average shipment the average shipment takes over 28 days at sea.

“MDM prices are likely to remain elevated as Brazilian exporters try to capitalise on the gap,” said Southey. “Consumers can expect higher prices on polony and viennas until October, with normal supply and pricing only expected to stabilise by November 2025.”

The South African Meat Processors Association (SAMPA) also welcomed the lifting of the ban, describing the impasse as one that had pushed processors to the brink.

“We are delighted that the deadlock between South Africa and Brazil has been resolved, as meat processors were facing dire circumstances,” said SAMPA chairperson Gordon Nicoll.

Nicoll confirmed that many meat processors were running out of MDM stock and were facing factory closures and looming job losses.

“Our members were starting to run out of stock of MDM, which meant that shoppers and consumers were about to be confronted by a lack of viennas, polony, russians, and braai wors on the shelves,” he said.

“Meat processors were facing widescale layoffs as factories, for almost two months, have been unable to import MDM.”

Although a June announcement hinted at a partial lift of the ban for unaffected regions of Brazil, technical disagreements over South Africa’s Import Health Certificate wording kept the deadlock in place until the new wording was agreed on this week.

Nicoll said that even with the immediate crisis resolved, the future remains uncertain without stronger contingency plans.

“We are immensely grateful to the agriculture unit, led by Mr Dipepeneneng Serage, for their assistance and willingness to listen to industry and initiate engagements with Brazil to resume the trade of MDM,” he said.

“We have been working with the government for over two years to have policies and procedures in place to help South Africa when it is confronted by a poultry epidemic or pandemic. We will continue working with the National Department of Agriculture to implement better contingency plans.”

South Africa does not produce MDM in any meaningful quantity, making imports essential to the processed meat value chain.

Over 95% of the country’s MDM imports over the last 12 years have come from Brazil, which is the world’s largest MDM producer.

With domestic production unable to fill the gap, the suspension of imports placed over 125,000 jobs in the food processing sector at risk.

As production ramps up and trade routes resume, industry leaders stress that policy certainty and regionalisation protocols are critical to avoiding another food crisis in the future.

mandilakhe.tshwete@inl.co.za 

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