President Cyril Ramaphosa was clear at the recent G20 Summit: The world is confronting “persistent hunger, escalating climate pressures and excessive food price volatility”, with more than 700 million people already experiencing hunger. For South Africa, where food inflation continues to squeeze low-income households, protecting food security demands stable, predictable systems and complementarity in trade to keep essential foods affordable.
By Ricardo Santin, President of the Brazilian Animal Protein Association (ABPA)
The government’s announcement that it will vaccinate the entire national cattle herd against foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) is a strong signal that the country’s veterinary systems are under strain. With outbreaks continuing and containment measures proving insufficient, the Minister of Agriculture has acknowledged that South Africa is “not winning” under current approaches. Full-herd vaccination is therefore necessary, but it also highlights how vulnerable the protein system becomes when scientific protocols are not consistently applied.
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That vulnerability was exposed earlier this year by a disruption originating far beyond South Africa’s borders: a single case of bird flu on one farm in Brazil. Although the incident was fully contained, limited to one state and verified through extensive surveillance, South Africa imposed a blanket ban on all Brazilian poultry imports. The decision, taken despite scientific evidence that the disease had not spread, carried immediate consequences for consumers.
The consequences were immediate. South Africa lost access to roughly 95% of its imported mechanically deboned chicken meat, which is the base ingredient used for polony, Viennas and sausages that collectively contribute more than 400 million meals every month. More than 100 million meals a week were removed from the food system over the course of the six-month disruption.
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While the South African government did lift the blanket ban months later, the incident reveals the dangers of not proactively aligning policy with global best practice. And it is a direct illustration of why scientific tools such as regionalisation must form the backbone of veterinary decision-making.
The principle behind regionalisation is simple and globally recognised by the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH): When a disease event occurs in one place, only that area is temporarily restricted from trade. The rest of the country, which remains disease-free, continues exporting under strict supervision.
Regionalisation is also what allows Brazil, the world’s largest poultry exporter, to maintain safe, reliable trade. This year’s isolated bird-flu case was the first in the country’s commercial poultry history. Its swift containment was possible because Brazil has invested for decades in the foundations of modern animal health: continuous surveillance, rapid response, advanced laboratories, real-time digital reporting and internationally aligned certification. These systems give trading partners confidence and help stabilise global protein supply chains.
South Africa has endorsed regionalisation in principle, but practice remains uneven. The rollout of electronic veterinary health certificates varies across ports; some rely on manual or hybrid systems, introducing inconsistency and delays. Provincial veterinary teams interpret guidelines differently, and importers often receive conflicting instructions. These gaps undermine predictability for processors and retailers and, ultimately, raise costs for consumers.
South Africans have already felt this through elevated meat and processed-meat inflation. When mechanically deboned meat supply tightens, manufacturers face higher input costs that filter rapidly into household budgets. For millions of families, processed meats are not luxuries, but essential, affordable sources of daily protein. Disruptions therefore hit the poorest households hardest.
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This is where the concept of complementarity in trade is essential. Brazil does not compete with South African poultry producers in the mechanically deboned meat segment; South Africa does not produce it at scale, nor is it economically viable to do so. Local producers focus on higher-value cuts, while imported mechanically deboned meat supports the low-cost segment of the market. Together, the two systems stabilise prices and ensure reliable access to protein. Blanket bans disrupt this balance and create avoidable volatility without adding meaningful disease protection.
Deeper cooperation between Brazil and South Africa is therefore critical. Senior officials from both countries, including Brazil’s Deputy Minister of Agriculture, Hon. Luiz Rua, will meet in December to strengthen alignment on regionalisation, digital certification and veterinary standards. Brazil’s long-standing success in maintaining disease-free zones and its experience eradicating foot-and-mouth through systematic vaccination, offers directly relevant lessons as South Africa embarks on its own full-herd programme.
When decisions follow evidence, global protein supply can stay steady, prices will remain stable and food security strengthens, which is a good start to alleviating the hunger of 700 million people.
* ABPA is the national body representing Brazil’s poultry and pork sectors, overseeing producers that export to more than 150 countries. As the world’s largest supplier of chicken and a major global exporter of pork, ABPA plays a central role in setting international standards for food safety, disease control and reliable, affordable protein trade.
Disclaimer The opinions expressed in this article belong solely to the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of African Farming.
