Owner of Super Value Rupert Roberts said yesterday that there is no risk involved in consumers purchasing corned beef, despite the Brazilian meatpacking scandal that led countries around the world, including The Bahamas, to put a precautionary import ban on beef and beef products such as corned beef.
Speaking with Guardian Business, Roberts said he has "complete assurance" in the corned beef being sold in The Bahamas.
The precautionary ban has been in place just over a week and corned beef sales at Super Value have been "usual" since then. Roberts revealed that Super Vale sells approximately 600,000 cans of corned beef per year.
"I have had complete confidence and the ministry must have complete confidence," said Roberts.
"They must know that the suppliers into The Bahamas were not affected.
"There is no risk at all to the public."
Roberts also said that the suppliers of corned beef products sold at Super Value were "completely unaffected".
According to news reports relative to the matter, police investigations into Brazil's meat industry led to the conclusion that companies BRF SA and JBS SA, along with dozens of small companies, were allegedly involved in a scandal that permitted the overlooking of condemned practices.
In a communication from Brazil last week, it was stated that federal police in Brazil unveiled an investigation on the country's agriculture ministry and found that 21 meat-producing facilities were allegedly involved in irregularities out of Brazil's nearly 5,000 meat-producing plants.
But Roberts said that Super Value has never done any business with "any of those factories".
"All of our suppliers, in which we have corned beef on the shelf, have given us complete assurance that there has never been a problem and they are not under investigation," he said.
Already, China and other major meat importers have lifted an import ban on beef from Brazil. Roberts suggested The Bahamas would follow suit shortly.
Roberts said that he thinks the government will lift the precautionary ban in a "few days" once they do their investigation.
"I am sure that our government will lift this ban," he said.
Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources V. Alfred Gray previously told Guardian Business that the ban would stand until more information is directly acquired from the Brazilian government on the matter.
Roberts contended: "To my knowledge, there is nothing that has ever been imported into The Bahamas by us or any competitor that was affected."

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