According to a report by UOL, a workers’ union has accused JBS of subjecting dozens of Indigenous workers to “degrading conditions,” as described in a lawsuit filed against the company. Sindaves, a union based in Sidrolândia, Mato Grosso do Sul, filed the suit on behalf of 76 individuals—including members of the Terena Indigenous community—who worked as chicken pickers for a subcontracted company.
A study by the news organization InfoAmazonia revealed that cattle raised in the Uru-Eu-Wau-Wau Indigenous Land in Rondônia supplied two JBS meatpacking plants. The study indicates that the company’s facilities in Pimenta Bueno and Vilhena indirectly received animals from this Indigenous territory and other protected areas. These plants supplied meat to markets controlled by the French retail giant Casino.
The National Advertising Review Board (NARB), the self-regulatory body for the U.S. advertising industry, recommended that JBS cease publishing five key statements related to its “Net Zero by 2040“ campaign, as they could mislead consumers into believing that effective measures were already being implemented. NARB concluded that JBS had not presented a concrete plan to achieve its goal of net-zero emissions by 2040.
JBS purchased around 500 head of cattle from a farm that deforested 2,000 hectares between 2018 and 2021, according to an investigation by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), The Guardian, Repórter Brasil, and Forbidden Stories. According to the report, the cattle came from a property in Pontes e Lacerda, Mato Grosso, and were supplied to a JBS meatpacking plant that processed the animals and exported beef to the UK and other countries.
Eight hundred million trees have been cut down in the Amazon over six years to make way for cattle ranching, resulting in 17,000 square kilometers of deforestation, according to an estimate by the consultancy AidEnvironment, cited in reports by The Guardian, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), Repórter Brasil, and Forbidden Stories. In the study, thirteen JBS plants—twice as many as those linked to Brazil’s second-largest meatpacker—have been associated with this deforestation.
As revealed in Bloomberg Law, JBS has been the target of a class action lawsuit filed by Black employees alleging racial discrimination at the company’s meatpacking plant in Souderton, Pennsylvania, in the United States. According to the complaint, the thirteen employees claim they were subjected to racial insults by managers and coworkers, denied promotions and pay raises, and forced to work in lower-paid areas of the plant.
An average of 64 soccer fields of forest are cleared every week by indirect suppliers of JBS in the Amazon, according to Global Witness. This figure was calculated using data from a bot created by organization, which alerts followers to deforestation linked to the company’s supplier farms in the state of Pará.
According to a study by Mighty Earth, JBS purchased cattle from a farm located on land claimed by the Ikpeng Indigenous people, in the municipality of Paranatinga, Mato Grosso. The property is owned by Édio Nogueira, who is considered one of the largest deforesters in the Amazon. The study indicates that, between 2001 and 2020, he was fined nearly USD 15 million by Ibama for multiple environmental violations, including illegal deforestation of native vegetation, environmental degradation, and the irregular use of pesticides.
JBS is the largest polluter among the world’s industrial livestock companies, according to a ranking by World Animal Protection. The organization estimates that the company’s processing of chickens and pigs generates greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to those produced by 14 million cars on the road each year.
According to reports by the U.S. Department of Labor, a third-party company providing cleaning services for JBS employed at least 31 children, aged between 13 and 17, to perform hazardous tasks. These activities included cleaning high-risk motorized equipment during night shifts at thirteen facilities located across eight states in the US. The case was settled with a payment of USD 1.5 million by the subcontracted company, Packers Sanitation Services Inc.
