Brazil fines meat packers $64 million for buying cattle from deforested Amazon By Reuters
BRASILIA – Brazil’s environmental protection agency, IBAMA, has imposed fines of 365 million reais ($64 million) on cattle farms and meat packers, including the world’s largest. JBS SA (OTC:), raising or buying cattle from illegally logged land in the Amazon (NASDAQ:
IBAMA said it has identified 69 places that have sold 18,000 cattle raised in logging areas and 23 meat packing companies that bought these cattle in the state of Para and Amazonas.
The law enforcement operation was aimed at curbing deforestation in the Amazon by monitoring the chain that produces or sells cattle in illegally logged areas, IBAMA said.
JBS denied that it bought cattle from the areas named by IBAMA.
“Nothing purchased by JBS has been revealed by IBAMA to have been purchased from places that were not agreed upon,” said the company.
JBS added in a statement that its geospatial monitoring system ensures that the company does not find animals on farms involved in illegal deforestation, invasion of native areas or conservation areas.
Extensive cattle ranching and logging for timber or soy plantations are causing deforestation in the Amazon rainforest.
A number of meat packers signed bonds with prosecutors in 2013, agreeing not to buy cattle from farms that had been illegally cleared or banned for environmental crimes.
JBS and more than a dozen other large agribusinesses have also pledged to eliminate deforestation in their stores by 2025, including deforestation linked to indirect suppliers who sell to butchers who in turn sell to meat packers.
