“How could Mercosur have been processed when official audits expose the total failure of Brazilian oversight?” asks Adrian Biernacki, a long-time spokesperson for the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Poland to the European Union, in a social media post. On platform X, he presented the results of European Commission audits from 2025 concerning food products from Brazil. The conclusions are alarming.
As announced on Friday by Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission will begin the provisional application of the EU-Mercosur trade agreement. This became possible after the agreement was ratified by at least one country. On Thursday, it was approved by the parliament of Uruguay, followed by Argentina.
The agreement is being implemented despite protests by farmers across the EU. Opponents of the deal pointed, among other things, to risks associated with food from South America that does not meet European standards. On Friday, Adrian Biernacki, the long-time spokesperson for the Permanent Representation of the Republic of Poland to the European Union, presented the results of audits concerning food from Brazil. The report offers little cause for optimism.
Cattle Treated with Estradiol
“Let us begin with the most critical issue: meat and hormones. Brazil committed that products from cattle treated with estradiol 17ß [the strongest natural estrogen] would not be exported to the EU,” Biernacki writes, emphasizing that, according to the European Commission, the action plan designed to enforce this commitment was not implemented by the state.
“Brazilian authorities lost control and concealed this fact from the EU. According to the Commission’s report: ‘The authority did not inform about ineligible products delivered to the EU.’ The result? Fifteen health certificates were signed, and products from hormone-treated animals were included in shipments to the EU,” he states.
He notes that the Brazilian authority did not react even after the matter came to light. As stated in the report, “no attempts were made by the supervisory authority to trace products from 174 at-risk animals.”
“EU importers were not even informed,” Biernacki adds.
“Taken together, these shortcomings undermine confidence in MAPA’s ability to ensure proper implementation of the commitments undertaken in the action plan,” the European Commission report states.
Salmonella in Pepper
Biernacki also cites a section of the report concerning plant-based food products. “The Brazilian authority itself estimates that ‘30% of raw material batches (pepper) may be contaminated with Salmonella.’ The industry claims that the number is even higher,” he writes.
“So who collects samples of black pepper for Salmonella testing before the product is sent to the EU? The exporters themselves, in their own facilities,” he notes, adding that according to the European Commission, this practice complies with one of the EU regulations.
The report further reveals that no sanitary inspections are conducted in Brazilian fields and plantations. “There is no designated competent authority to oversee microbiological risk at farm level […] No official controls are carried out at the level of primary production,” the document concludes.
“The helplessness of the supervisory authority stems from systemic errors and gaps in education. Local inspection branches are underfunded and suffer from staff shortages. Certificates for plant exports to the EU are a fiction. Brazilian officials at the border approve documents based on a registration that concerns the processing plant, and as the Commission report states, ‘this provides no guarantee regarding primary production,’” Biernacki further enumerates.
He concludes by emphasizing that “the above findings prepared by European Commission auditors are based on inspections carried out in September and October 2025” — that is, just before the decision was made to push ahead with finalizing the Mercosur agreement. “We can all go home,” he sums up sarcastically.