Packs of sliced corned beef “sourced” from Brazil-based JBS have been removed from the shelves of UK retailer Waitrose, after a national newspaper linked the meat giant with alleged slave labour on cattle farms.
The move came after The Guardian newspaper claimed it had obtained documents showing JBS, had previously purchased cattle from a farm under federal investigation in Brazil’s northern state of Pará. Prosecutors were said to claim workers were being subjected to modern slavery as defined under Brazilian law”.
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According to The Guardian, prosecutors in Brazil claimed federal police had discovered men forced to live in inhumane and degrading conditions, with no shelter and no toilets or drinking water in raids conducted in June 2016.
The Guardian claimed in response to the allegations JBS said it had stopped buying from the farm “on discovering the alleged link to labour abuses”. JBS added the farm in question was not included in the Brazilian government’s official “blacklist” of companies known to use slave labour.
According to The Guardian, the company said: “JBS does not buy cattle from any farms which have any association with slave labour, as listed by the Brazilian government and updates all of the information contained in … the ministry of labour blacklist of slave labour on a daily basis.”
A Waitrose spokesperson told just-food: “While we have found no such concerns in our own supply chain and have [had] recent audits, including April 2017), we are taking these allegations seriously so have stopped sourcing any of our corned beef from there [JBS] while we investigate fully.”
JBS had not responded to just-food’s request for comment at the time of publication.
Earlier this week, JBS announced the sale of its beef operations in three South American markets to companies controlled by local rival Minerva.
At the end of last month, JBS confirmed its controlling shareholder J&F Participacoes would pay a BRL10.3bn (US$3.1bn) fine under a “leniency agreement” with prosecutors after JBS became embroiled in a number of corruption scandals.
