KINGSTON, Jamaica — GraceKennedy Limited a short while ago said its corned beef suppliers in Brazil are not under investigation by the Brazilian authorities.

The company in news release said they have been working non-stop over the past 48 hours to get answers in relation to the issue and can confidently state that the factories, which supply corned beef to GraceKennedy Ltd ,are not a part of the current investigation by the Brazilian authorities.

The company said they have reviewed the information provided by Brazil’s Secretariat of Animal and Plant Health (SDA) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Food Supply (MAPA) and are satisfied that corned beef is not among the items under scrutiny.

“Further, none of the meat plants listed by the Brazilian authorities supply corned beef to GraceKennedy Ltd.”

The company said “the health and safety of consumers remain of primary importance to us. We have always and will continue to ensure that suppliers conform to internationally recognised food safety standards including, the British Retail Consortium Standard (BRC).”

It added that the BRC is used by leading manufacturers across the world and sets out stringent requirements as it relates to manufacturing, food safety and quality control systems.

“Our corned beef suppliers in Brazil have consistently qualified for and retained the BRC standard. We will continue to comply with the Jamaican government’s temporary ban but also urge that, in light of the information now available, they apply the necessary resources to satisfy any concerns they might still have about corned beef imports as soon as possible.”