EU audit clears Brazil's poultry controls, but Brazilian chicken stays out of the EU until a vote in October

Brussels has cleared Brazil's antimicrobial controls for broiler meat and honey, but the market is still closed: the Commission now needs a member-state vote, and the next window is 20-21 October 2026.

On 28 September 2026 the European Commission published the final report of the audit its Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety (DG SANTE) carried out in Brazil between 24 August and 4 September 2026. The two auditors concluded that Brazil's official control system is capable of giving the guarantees EU legislation requires for broiler poultry meat and related products, and also for honey and other apiculture products. Controls along the whole chain were examined, including export-approved slaughterhouses, broiler farms, feed manufacturers, veterinary medicine stores and honey establishments.

A favourable audit does not reopen the market by itself. Brazil is still excluded from Annex XVIa of the EU list of third countries authorised for these products, and since 3 September 2026 consignments certified on or after that date have not been admitted into the EU. The Commission may now propose to reinstate Brazil for the poultry and honey sectors, but that proposal has to go to a vote of member states in SCoPAFF (Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed), whose next meetings fall on 20-21 October and 16-17 November 2026.

The value at stake is real: in 2024 the EU imported about 286,936 tonnes of poultry meat from Brazil, expressed in carcass weight, worth roughly €625 million - 32 percent of extra-EU poultry meat imports by volume, making Brazil the leading single country of origin. Two points matter for buyers outside Europe:

• Volume looking for a home. The measure was not triggered by a contaminated consignment - the auditors' concern was the reliability of the control system, and the rules cover antimicrobials used to promote growth or raise yield, and the use in food-producing animals of antimicrobials reserved for human infections. With the EU door still shut, Brazilian product certified since 3 September has to be placed elsewhere, and Gulf and African destinations are among the markets absorbing it.
• A date to watch, not a promise. Nothing reopens automatically. If member states vote Brazil back in at the October or November SCoPAFF meeting, some of that volume will be pulled back towards Europe, and pricing on the remaining offers can move quickly. Buyers planning Q4 and Q1 cover should fix volumes and price validity windows with the SCoPAFF calendar in mind.
• Scope is narrow. The positive finding covers broiler poultry meat and honey only. For beef, the EU has sought guarantees covering the whole life cycle of the animals, and press reports indicate a separate audit would be required before that trade resumes.
• Documentation is the bottleneck. The episode is a reminder that market access now turns on proof of what happens on the farm and in the feed mill, not only on laboratory results at the port.

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Source: European Commission, DG SANTE audit report on Brazil published 28 September 2026 (audit carried out 24 August - 4 September 2026), as reported by Zootecnia International; Reuters, 1 September 2026. Trade figures: European Commission data for 2024.