SAO PAULO, Brazil (CP) - As protesters barbecued half a tonne of Brazilian beef in front of the Canadian Consulate on Monday, union leaders said longshoremen would refuse to unload Canadian products arriving in the port of Santos.

It was the latest demonstration of growing public indignation against Canada's ban on Brazilian beef, prompted by concerns about mad cow disease. Canada's partners in the North American Free Trade Agreement - the United States and Mexico - were obliged to follow suit.

Organized by Forca Sindical, a confederation of trade unions, some 400 people, three cows and seven steers gathered in front of the Canadian Consulate in a peaceful, well-behaved protest.

Three of the steers were ridden by protesters with red clown noses and dressed like Royal Canadian Mounted Police officers.

Consul General, Jean-Michel Roy, said no one from the consulate attended the barbecue.

"It's difficult to see what could have been achieved under the circumstances," Roy said, adding that protesters did not request a meeting with consulate staff.

"Had they expressed the desire to make known their concerns, we would have received a delegation and conveyed their concerns."

Roy said the protest lasted for about six hours and included live Brazilian music.

"They were very peaceful. They weren't targeting Canadians. There was no unpleasantness that I'm aware of," Roy said, noting consulate business continued undisrupted.

While demonstrators and passers-by enjoyed the barbecue, organizers struck a more serious note and announced that as of Thursday longshoremen in the port of Santos, 70 kilometres southeast of Sao Paulo, will stop unloading Canadian products.

"Besides refusing to unload Canadian products, longshoremen will also try to stop Canadian ships from docking," the president of the Santos Longshoremen's Union, Vanderlei de Jesus, said. "Workers will hold a general assembly on Wednesday to decide the exact steps we will follow to carry out our protest."

He said union leaders would try to convince longshoremen in the states of Rio de Janeiro, Parana, Espirito Santo and Santa Catarina to join the protest.

The planned action by longshoremen was announced a week after politicians urged the government to retaliate by imposing a ban on Canadian imports, mainly of wheat, sulphur, fertilizers, paper and chemicals.

Meanwhile, Agriculture Minister Marcus Vinicius Pratini de Moraes said he hoped the ban will be lifted after a Canadian mission conducts on an on-site inspection of Brazilian beef for signs of bovine spongiform encephalopathy, the scientific name for mad cow disease. The mission is expected to arrive this week.

Brazil has already incurred losses of $3 million Cdn because of Canada's beef export ban, Moraes said.

Brazil's meat export market totals $1.2 billion a year. Last year, the United States alone accounted for $123 million of this total, while Canada purchased just $8.25 million.

Brazilian officials have repeatedly said that Canada's fears about Brazil's cattle are groundless. They point out that Brazil's herd - one of the world's largest - feeds mainly in pastures and not on ground-up cattle parts, which have been blamed for spreading the disease in Europe.

Roy refused to say whether he or his staff had given up eating Brazilian beef.

"No, I'm not going to comment on that."