Workers In “Slavery-Like Conditions” Supplying World’s Biggest Meat Firms
A new report into workers on Brazilian beef farms supplying the world’s largest meat producer has revealed appalling conditions likened to “slavery”.
Credit: Amy Jones / Moving Animals
Some of the world’s biggest suppliers of meat have been implicated in using slave labor in parts of their supply chains.
Farms that supply cows so that they can be slaughtered for their meat were found to be keeping farm workers in “slavery-like conditions”, a report by independent investigative agency Reporter Brasil has revealed, according to The Guardian.
Workers were kept in makeshift shacks without running water, toilets, or kitchens The Guardian reports.
The supply chains investigated were all on farms in Brazil, which exports more beef than any other country - providing close to 20% of the total global exports according to the United States Department of Agriculture.
And leading companies, including JBS - the world’s biggest producer of beef and a major supplier to the US - were implicated in the slave labor.
Exploited workers were reportedly paid around $11 a day. The Brazilian meat giant JBS, in contrast, has a global revenue of around $49 billion.
These severe human rights abuses are the latest ethical scandal to condemn the animal agriculture industry in Brazil and its products that are exported around the world to supply the likes of beef and leather products.
Environmentalists and NGOs have repeatedly criticized the beef industry for its leading role in deforestation and the ongoing destruction of Brazil’s remaining forests. Raising cattle to produce beef is the largest driver of deforestation in every Amazon country, accounting for 80% of the current deforestation.
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