Letter written by the Head of the Commercial Section of the Embassy of Brazil, Demétrio Carvalho, published in The Independent on 25 August 2007.

With regard to your article 'The great zebu con' (22 August), which questions the quality of Brazilian beef sold in the UK, the attempt to stigmatise the zebu is mystifying.

All round the world the zebu is seen for what it is, just one among many breeds of cattle. Brazilian cattle, a significant proportion of which are zebu crossbreeds, are reared much less intensively than their counterparts in many other countries, in conditions similar to what would be described in Britain as organic or free range.

All beef imported from Brazil conforms to strict standards closely monitored by the European Commission. Your article refers to a ‘faint whiff of xenophobia’ in the bizarre media controversy surrounding the zebu, and Brazilians might also detect the additional whiff of a hidden protectionist agricultural agenda.

Brazilian beef is high-quality, safe, environmentally friendly and competitively priced, which is why Brazil has risen to become the biggest beef exporter in the world, selling to 150 countries.