By Darren Ennis BRUSSELS, July 16 (Reuters) - The European Union's health chief dismissed on Monday allegations that Brazilian meat was unsafe to eat, describing charges made by EU farm bodies and lawmakers as misleading and incorrect. EU Health Commissioner Markos Kyprianou was responding to a request last week by EU farm chief Mariann Fischer Boel for a deeper probe into whether Brazilian beef met the strict food safety standards required for EU imports. Claims that Brazilian ranchers do not meet the kind of standards required for EU farmers were made by a number of farm organisations and outlined in a report submitted by the Irish Farmers Association (IFA) to the European Commission last month. But in a letter sent to Fischer Boel, farming organisations and members of the European Parliament's agriculture committee on Monday, Kyprianou refuted the claims. "Overall, we feel that the allegations are to a large extent based on incorrect interpretation of EU requirements for beef imports," Kyprianou said in the letter obtained by Reuters. "This information is not new and is misleading." Earlier this month, Kyprianou warned Brazil it faces a total ban on its meat exports into the EU if it fails to address outstanding food safety concerns by the end of the year. A ban on imports of beef from three Brazilian provinces has been in place since 2005 following an outbreak of foot and mouth disease. The EU executive said it will consider a wider ban if Brazil fails to meet its obligations. The IFA report accuses Brazilian beef farmers of failing to employ proper tagging and identification systems which can be used to trace shipments in the case of disease outbreaks. It also alleged that Brazilian farmers used illegal growth hormones and medicines, have inadequate disease controls and wreak environmental damage. "The Commission's food and veterinary office (FVO)...was broadly satisfied with the controls of the Brazilian authorities. Consequently, many of the conclusions in the IFA report are not valid," the letter said. "COVER-UP" But IFA president Padraig Walshe accused Kyprianou of "an attempted cover-up" and said the health chief was focused on undermining the IFA report rather than addressing the problem. "Commissioner Kyprianou has spent more time defending the indefensible. He must come out of denial on the risk posed by Brazilian beef," Walshe told Reuters. Fischer Boel's spokesman Michael Mann said she welcomed Kyprianou's "prompt response." "We welcome the letter which shows just how seriously the Commission is taking this issue and we now look forward to the next FVO inspection in Brazil which will hopefully clarify the matter once and for all." Pekka Pesonen, Secretary General of the EU farm union Copa-Cogeca said: "We are very concerned about the implications on European consumer safety. As a precautionary measure, the European Commission must immediately increase the frequency of physical checks for Brazilian beef imports." "If these serious failures are found to be widespread, the EU must be ready to introduce further measures such as a complete ban on Brazilian beef imports without hesitation." British and Irish farmers were due to discuss their report with the EU assembly's agriculture committee later on Monday (1400 GMT), while Kyprianou was due to hold talks with Irish Agriculture Minister Mary Coughlan at 1500 GMT.
