The Norwegian Food Safety Authority (Mattilsynet) will suspend imports of meat and meat products from Brazil as of September 3, 2026, after removing the South American country from its list of authorized suppliers for failing to guarantee compliance with European Union rules on the use of antimicrobials in animal production.
Although Norway is not an EU member, it will apply the bloc’s sanitary regulations due to the lack of official technical information from Brazil’s Ministry of Agriculture supporting compliance with the requirements governing the use of these drugs in the country’s livestock sector.
The decision has raised concern among Brazilian meat exporters, who criticize the lack of technical action by the federal government and consider it virtually impossible to reverse the measure before the deadline. Roberto Perosa, president of the Brazilian Beef Exporters Association (Abiec), stressed that the European decision “does not question the way Brazil produces,” but rather “questions the government’s inspection capacity.”
Norway is a small market for Brazil, with purchases in 2025 totaling 279 tons of beef worth US$ 3.8 million, while smaller shipments of poultry, fish, eggs and honey brought the overall value to US$ 4.5 million.
According to the official notification transmitted through Brazilian diplomatic channels in Oslo, the restriction will remain in place until Brazil is reassessed and once again included on the list of eligible countries.
The Norwegian authority clarified that only products whose sanitary certificates were issued no later than September 2, 2026, will be allowed to enter the country, ensuring access for shipments already in maritime transit and arriving at the border at a later date, provided they meet that requirement.
