European Union food-safety auditors will visit Brazil from June 8 to 19 to assess whether the bloc should reopen its market to Brazilian seafood, nearly a decade after sanitary concerns halted exports.
The mission by DG-Santé, the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health and Food Safety, will inspect industrial fishing vessels in Rio Grande do Norte and Santa Catarina and seafood processing plants in Pernambuco, Ceará and Paraná, according to CNN Brasil and Poder360. The review will cover fishing, aquaculture and processing, including products such as shrimp, tuna, lobster and tilapia.
Brazilian seafood exports to the EU have been suspended since 2018, after European auditors identified sanitary “non-compliances” in the country’s fishing vessels and processing chain. Brazil’s Agriculture Ministry adopted what officials described at the time as a preventive self-embargo while the country adjusted to European requirements.
The dispute affected more than the extractive fishing fleet. Francisco Medeiros, president of Peixe BR, the Brazilian fish-farming association, told CNN Brasil that the original problems were tied to wild-capture fishing, but that the interpretation adopted at the time also penalised aquaculture, which he said had maintained strict quality controls.
European authorities are expected to examine whether Brazil improved sanitary controls, traceability and inspection of the seafood chain. Poder360 reported that the EU’s earlier objections included hygiene conditions on high-sea fishing vessels and at processing units, as well as compliance with rules on antimicrobials and veterinary medicines used in fish farming.
Brazilian authorities have spent the intervening years building certification and inspection programmes. The Fisheries and Aquaculture Ministry created a “Good Hygiene and Sanitary Practices” certificate for fishing vessels in 2020 and introduced a mandatory adjustment calendar in 2024. Processing rules were updated through normative instructions issued by the Fisheries Ministry and the Agriculture Ministry, which formally coordinates sanitary negotiations with foreign markets through its agricultural defence secretariat.
The Fisheries Ministry told Poder360 that, if Brazil passes the new review, the European market could reopen in 2026. “The process has a rite to be followed. After the audit, the EU will have to prepare the report. If everything goes well, we hope to open the market still this year,” the ministry said.
The industry is treating the visit as a significant commercial opportunity. Abipesca, the Brazilian seafood industry association, and the Fisheries Ministry estimate that reopening the EU market could add about $250 million to Brazilian exports in 2027. CNN Brasil reported that the sector also wants Brazilian seafood included in the EU-Mercosur trade agreement’s tariff-reduction framework.
Eduardo Lobo, president of Abipesca, told Poder360 that Brazil had addressed the problems identified by the EU. He said the embargo reflected both political divergence and European concerns about Brazilian authorities’ traceability controls, adding that “all this was solved in recent years through several regulations.”
The audit comes as Brazil faces broader European scrutiny over animal-protein standards. In May, the EU excluded Brazil from a list of countries deemed compliant with its rules on excessive antimicrobial use, creating a separate risk for meat and animal exports unless Brazilian authorities meet new requirements by September.
For Brazil’s seafood exporters, the timing also matters because the sector lost ground in the United States in 2025 after tariff increases under Donald Trump. Lobo told Poder360 that 2026 could mark a recovery year, with Brazil seeking to regain sales to the US, expand in Asia and potentially return to Europe.
Sources: CNN Brasil, Poder360, Investing.com Brasil, Valor Econômico and Amazonas Atual/Folhapress.