Brazil’s food tariff is moderate, but two regulators decide whether a product can enter at all. Here is who controls what, how animal and plant products clear, Anvisa’s new registration rules, the magnifier label, the taxes and how Paraguayan food enters duty-free.
Food is one of the more open categories in Brazil’s tariff, but one of the most regulated at the border. Who controls the product depends on what it is made of: anything of animal origin — meat, dairy, fish, honey, eggs — and raw plant products belong to the Ministry of Agriculture (MAPA); processed food that is not of animal origin belongs to the health agency, Anvisa, and to state and municipal health surveillance. Each has its own registrations, its own approval of the foreign plant and its own check at the border.
On tax, food sits at the gentle end of the scale. Import duty on most foods is in single or low double digits, the federal excise (IPI) is zero on most foodstuffs, and several staples carry reduced social contributions. The real work is regulatory: getting the right registration in the importer’s name before the goods ship, and a Portuguese label that meets Anvisa’s nutrition and front-of-pack rules. The general tax mechanics — II, IPI, PIS/COFINS and grossed-up ICMS — are explained in our Brazil customs guide; this article covers what is specific to food.
| Product | Main regulator | What the product needs |
|---|---|---|
| Meat, poultry, fish, dairy, eggs, honey and their products | MAPA (DIPOA and Vigiagro) | Approved foreign plant, international sanitary certificate, label approved in PGA-SIGSIF where registration applies, reinspection on arrival |
| Grains, fruit, vegetables, seeds, flours of plant origin | MAPA (plant health and Vigiagro) | Phytosanitary certificate and any import requirements set for the product and origin; classification standards for some staples |
| Processed food not of animal origin (biscuits, pasta, sauces, confectionery, coffee, snacks) | Anvisa and local health surveillance (VISA) | Registration, notification or communication depending on risk (RDC 843/2024); importer with Anvisa operating authorisation |
| Food supplements, infant formula, enteral and medical foods | Anvisa | Notification (supplements) or registration (higher-risk categories) before sale |
| Wine, beer, spirits, juices and soft drinks | MAPA | Covered in our alcohol guide; non-alcoholic drinks follow the MAPA beverage rules |
The split is not always intuitive. A biscuit with milk powder is an Anvisa product; a cheese is MAPA’s. A product with a significant meat or dairy component usually falls under MAPA’s inspection system even if it looks like a ready meal. Classify early, because the agency decides the licence that the import declaration (DUIMP) will require: since the move to the Portal Único, permits, licences and certificates are filed as an LPCO (licença, permissão, certificado ou outro documento) linked to the declaration.
Brazil imports animal products only from countries and plants that MAPA’s inspection department (DIPOA) has cleared. The foreign establishment must be habilitado — approved for the specific species and product category — and the shipment must travel with the international sanitary certificate in the model agreed between the two veterinary services. The approved lists change; check them close to shipment, not only when the contract is signed.
Product and label registration
Where the product requires registration with DIPOA, the formulation and label must be approved in the PGA-SIGSIF system before import, and the packaging must match the approved layout exactly.
Importer readiness
A Brazilian company with CNPJ, Siscomex (RADAR) authorisation and representation in the Portal Único; a personal gov.br login is not enough.
LPCO and Vigiagro
The licence is filed in the Portal Único and analysed by Vigiagro, MAPA’s border service, often remotely; the cargo may be physically checked for seals, temperature and labels.
Reinspection
The goods may circulate in Brazil only after official reinspection at the designated place.
One simplification helps: since 8 April 2024, edible animal products for commercial use no longer need DIPOA’s prior import authorisation before shipment. The checks did not disappear — they moved to Vigiagro at entry, which puts more of the risk on the importer. A cargo from an unlisted plant, with the wrong certificate or without a required registration is not fixed on the quay; it is returned or destroyed.
Law and practice: RIISPOA, Decree 9.013/2017; IN MAPA 34/2018 (prior authorisation, no longer required for edible products since April 2024); MAPA import procedures in the Portal Único.
Grains, fruit, vegetables and other plant products need a phytosanitary certificate from the exporting country’s plant-protection service and must meet the import requirements MAPA has set for that product and origin; new products or origins may need a pest-risk analysis first, which can take years. Vigiagro checks the documents and the cargo at entry. Wooden pallets and packaging must be treated and marked under ISPM 15 whatever the cargo.
Some staples — rice, beans, wheat, maize and others — are also subject to MAPA’s official classification standards, which set grades and tolerances. For a Paraguayan rice or maize exporter, the phytosanitary certificate and classification are the routine paperwork; the risk is a lot that fails a grade or shows a quarantine pest at the border crossing.
Law and practice: IN MAPA 32/2015 and Portaria SDA 385/2021 (wood packaging); Vigiagro import procedures.
Anvisa rewrote its food regularisation rules in 2024. Under RDC 843/2024 and IN 281/2024, the route depends on risk:
Registro (registration)
For the highest-risk categories listed in IN 281/2024, such as infant formulas. Anvisa assesses the product before it can be sold.
Notificação (notification)
An electronic filing with Anvisa before sale, for intermediate-risk products. Food supplements and weight-control foods are notified.
Comunicação (communication)
For low-risk foods — flour, coffee, salt, most ordinary packaged foods — the company communicates the start of manufacture or import to the local health authority.
Transition
Products already on the market had until 1 September 2026 to adapt; registered products not adapted by then face cancellation.
Whatever the route, the regularisation belongs to a Brazilian company: the importer, which must hold Anvisa’s operating authorisation and a local sanitary licence for its premises. A foreign producer cannot hold a Brazilian food registration in its own name, which is why switching importers can mean re-filing. Ask who will own the registration before you sign an exclusive distribution agreement.
Law and practice: Anvisa RDC 843/2024 and IN 281/2024; RDC 990/2025 and RDC 983/2025 (transition rules); Anvisa alert of 11 August 2026.
Every packaged food sold in Brazil needs a label in Portuguese with the product name, ingredients, net quantity, importer’s identification, origin, batch, expiry date, allergen and gluten statements, and a nutrition table per 100 g or 100 ml and per serving. Imported products may use a Portuguese sticker over the original pack, as long as it carries all mandatory information.
Since the new nutrition-labelling rules (RDC 429/2020 and IN 75/2020), food high in added sugars, saturated fat or sodium must carry a black-and-white magnifying-glass symbol (the “lupa”) on the front, reading “ALTO EM” followed by the nutrient. The thresholds are:
| Nutrient | Solid food: “alto em” from | Liquid food: “alto em” from |
|---|---|---|
| Added sugars | 15 g per 100 g | 7.5 g per 100 ml |
| Saturated fat | 6 g per 100 g | 3 g per 100 ml |
| Sodium | 600 mg per 100 g | 300 mg per 100 ml |
The phase-in ended for most products in 2023–2024 and for drinks in returnable packaging in October 2025, so there is no grace period left for imports. A product carrying the magnifier cannot make certain nutrient claims on the same pack. Animal products under MAPA also follow Anvisa’s nutrition rules, while their label approval runs through DIPOA.
Law and practice: Anvisa RDC 429/2020 and IN 75/2020 (nutrition labelling); RDC 727/2022 (general labelling of packaged food).
Food falls in chapters 02 to 24 of the Mercosur nomenclature (NCM). Applied duties are mostly in single or low double digits, with peaks on some processed and preserved items. In March 2025 the government cut the import duty to zero on a list of staples to fight food inflation, by placing them on Brazil’s list of exceptions to the common external tariff (LETEC) through Gecex Resolution 709/2025, in force since 14 March 2025:
| Product (NCM) | Normal applied duty | Rate in October 2026 (Gecex Res. 709/2025) |
|---|---|---|
| Frozen boneless beef (0202.30.00) | 10.8% | 0% |
| Green coffee and roasted coffee (0901.11.10, 0901.21.00) | 9% | 0% |
| Maize, not for sowing (1005.90.10) | 7.2% | 0% |
| Dry pasta (1902.19.00) | 14.4% | 0% |
| Biscuits (1905.90.20) | 16.2% | 0% |
| Extra virgin olive oil (1509.20.00) | 9% | 0% |
| Crude sunflower oil (1512.11.10) | 9% | 0% |
| Cane sugar (1701.14.00) | 14.4% | 0% |
| Preserved sardines (1604.13.10) | 32% | 0% only within a 7,500-tonne quota opened in March 2025; 32% outside it |
As of October 2026 the zero rates are still in force: the tariff tables for the listed lines, updated to 19 October 2026, show 0% under Resolution 709/2025 with no end date set. The government presented the cuts as temporary, though, and Gecex can withdraw a line at any meeting, so check the current rate for the NCM with your broker before pricing a contract on it. Sardines are the exception to the zero: the 0% applies only within the quota, and the out-of-quota rate is 32%. For Paraguayan goods the question is moot — with Mercosur origin they pay 0% anyway.
Law and practice: Gecex Resolution 709/2025 (LETEC, Annex V to Gecex Resolution 272/2021), decided 13 March 2025, in force 14 March 2025, no end date set as of October 2026; Mercosur common external tariff.
IPI
Zero, or not levied, on most foodstuffs in the TIPI table; a few processed items carry a rate.
PIS and COFINS
Charged at import at 2.1% and 9.65% in general, but several staples of the basic food basket are reduced to zero; check the NCM.
ICMS
State VAT, often reduced for basic foods and frequently collected in advance under tax substitution (ICMS-ST) for packaged products sold through retail.
Tax reform
From 2027 the CBS replaces PIS and COFINS; the reform gives a zero rate to a national basic food basket and reduced rates to other foods.
Because so many food lines have special treatment, a percentage copied from another product is usually wrong. The correct stack comes from the exact eight-digit NCM, the state of the importer and the buyer’s tax regime.
Law and practice: Law 10.865/2004 (PIS/COFINS-Importação); Complementary Law 214/2025 (CBS and IBS, basic food basket).
Paraguayan food with a valid Mercosur certificate of origin enters Brazil at 0% duty; IPI, PIS, COFINS and ICMS apply as for any import. Sugar remains outside Mercosur free trade. The tariff preference does not replace sanitary approval: a Paraguayan meat or dairy plant must be cleared by MAPA for the Brazilian market like any other foreign plant, and Paraguayan grains need SENAVE’s phytosanitary certificate.
Food is a real part of Paraguay’s trade with Brazil. In the first half of 2024, rice was Paraguay’s third-largest export to Brazil after electricity and soybeans, followed by electricity equipment and chilled or frozen meat, and wheat shipments were growing. Most of that crosses by road at Ciudad del Este–Foz do Iguaçu and Pedro Juan Caballero–Ponta Porã, where road imports are moving to the DUIMP declaration in the last waves of 2026.
Law and practice: Decrees 12.058 and 12.059/2024 (Mercosur origin regime); Brazilian Foreign Trade Secretariat data for January–June 2024.
Wrong regulator
A product filed with Anvisa when MAPA governs it, or the reverse, stops at the border.
Plant not listed
Animal products from a plant not approved for that category are refused, not held.
Registration in the wrong name
The registration belongs to the importer; changing distributor can mean starting again.
Label mismatch
For MAPA products the pack must match the approved label exactly; for all products the magnifier and nutrition table must be right.
Shelf life
Delays at Vigiagro or in sampling eat into the shelf life, especially for chilled goods.
Exact NCM; MAPA or Anvisa; any current Gecex duty change.
A Brazilian company with RADAR, Anvisa or MAPA registrations and a sanitary licence.
DIPOA approval for animal products; phytosanitary requirements for plant products.
Registration, notification or communication under RDC 843/2024, or DIPOA label registration.
Portuguese, nutrition table and magnifier where thresholds are met.
Mercosur certificate for 0% duty on Paraguayan goods.
Anvisa: food regularisation deadline (2026) · Anvisa IN 281/2024 · Idec: front-of-pack labelling deadlines · MAPA IN 34/2018 (animal products) · Direto Legaliza: importing animal products · FazComex: MAPA in imports · Notícias Agrícolas: zero duty on staple foods (March 2025) · NCM 0202.30.00 (beef): LETEC 0%, Res. 709/2025 · NCM 1604.13.10 (sardines) rates · Datamar: Brazil–Paraguay trade 2024
MAPA for animal products and raw plant products; Anvisa and local health surveillance for processed food that is not of animal origin.
It depends on risk. Under RDC 843/2024 high-risk categories such as infant formula are registered, supplements are notified, and most ordinary foods only require a communication to the local health authority.
The Brazilian importer or company, which must have Anvisa’s operating authorisation and a local sanitary licence. A foreign producer cannot hold it directly.
Only if its country is authorised and MAPA has approved the plant for the specific species and product category, with the agreed sanitary certificate.
A front-of-pack symbol reading “ALTO EM” for food high in added sugars, saturated fat or sodium, required under RDC 429/2020 and IN 75/2020.
Usually a moderate rate under the Mercosur tariff; in March 2025 Gecex Resolution 709/2025 cut several staples to 0%, and those zero rates were still in force in October 2026. Paraguayan goods with Mercosur origin pay 0%.
Yes, a Portuguese sticker on imported packs is accepted if it carries all mandatory information; for MAPA-registered products the label must match the approved version.
The full tax stack, RADAR, DUIMP and Paraguayan origin.
Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Colombia and Ecuador compared.
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