World’s Biggest Meat Company Cannot Guarantee it Does Not Have Links to Illegal Deforestation
Environmentalists and NGOs say the beef industry is driving deforestation and destroying Brazil’s forests.
The world’s biggest meat company, JBS, has previously been linked to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest. Now the Brazillian company is under pressure from politicians and environmentalists to address the gaps in its supply chain.
One of the biggest problems faced by Brazil’s meat industry is its inability to monitor and trace a significant proportion of its supply chains. According to critics, this means that companies are unable to ensure their suppliers do not raise cows on illegally deforested lands.
Other companies have confessed that this is an issue and are allegedly taking action, whereas JBS has “refused to answer direct questions about exactly how much of its beef comes from so-called ‘indirect suppliers’, according to The Guardian.
Indirect suppliers are hard to trace because cows are birthed, fattened, and slaughtered at different locations - cattle can be sold several times before being purchased by meat companies.
Brazil exports more beef than any other country - providing close to 20% of the total global exports according to the United States Department of Agriculture, but environmentalists and NGOs say the industry is driving deforestation and destroying the country’s forests.
Why does the beef industry destroy forests?
Raising cattle to produce beef is the largest driver of deforestation in every Amazon country, accounting for 80% of the current deforestation.
To keep up with demand, Brazilian farmers have set fires to clear the forest, making way for more and more pasture land to feed cattle.
Nearly 50% of Brazilian livestock are raised in fields that used to be rainforest. Farmers also burn the land to grow crops, such as soybeans - 80% of soy is used to feed animals raised for meat.
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