JBS is a Brazil-based agribusiness giant, run by brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista. It is the largest food company in the world with a revenue of US $72.9 billion, and is renowned for its links to Amazon deforestation, cattle laundering, human rights concerns, corruption, and bribing more than 1,800 politicians. Despite the widespread and serious problems caused by this company, its products can be found in grocery stores right across the US, Europe, and Australia.
Which Brands Does JBS Own?
JBS is the company behind household names such as: Swift, Pilgrims, and Aspen Ridge (USA); Mountain Creek Farms, Northern Meat Shoppe, and Spring Creek (Canada); Great Southern, Primo, and Aberdeen Black (Australia); Mattessons, Moy Park, and Richmond (Europe); Danepak, Hungry Joe’s, and Dalehead Foods (UK); and Alamesa, Del Dia, and Little Italy (Mexico). JBS produces beef, chicken, pork, and other meats.
Which Restaurants and Supermarkets Does JBS Supply?
JBS’s clients include Burger King, Mars, McDonald’s, Nestlé, Carrefour, Outback Steakhouse, Pizza Hut, Wendy’s, Subway, KFC, Lidl, Tesco, Walmart, The Cheesecake Factory, and Costco. It also supplies the United States government.
JBS and Deforestation
Farming cows for beef is the primary driver of deforestation in Brazil, as trees are destroyed to make way for grazing. According to scientists, this industry is pushing the Amazon ever closer to a tipping point that would see it switch from being a carbon sink to a carbon emitter. JBS dominates the Brazilian beef market and has repeatedly made—and then broken—promises to clean up its supply chain. In 2024 alone, more than 400 hectares of tropical forest was known to be destroyed within the JBS supply chain.
JBS, The Meat Industry, and Human Rights
JBS acknowledges that the Brazilian meat industry is connected with the invasion of Indigenous
lands and protected areas, as well as other human rights concerns. Environmental activists who try to protect the land from companies like JBS face serious repercussions with 25 people being murdered in Brazil in 2023. Among the 2022 victims was British journalist Dom Philips, who had brought the truth of JBS and the wider industry to the world.
Slavery within the Brazilian beef industry has also been well documented and in 2022, the world was shocked to learn of children being employed illegally in slaughterhouses owned by JBS and others in the United States. In Australia, JBS stands accused of failing to protect workers from death and serious injury.
JBS and Factory Farming
As well as industrially farming cows for beef, JBS farms chickens and pigs inside appalling factory farms around the world. An Animal Equality investigation into Moy Park chicken farm—one of JBS’s brands—found animals lame, struggling to breathe, and surrounded by dead animals. Horrific as this is, such conditions are not unusual inside factory farms. Alongside the cruelty, JBS’s Moy Park was also found to be responsible for significant environmental breaches.
JBS and Corruption
Investigations into JBS between 2016 to 2021 covered several types of corrupt activity involving health and safety, finance, tax, bribery, price fixing and insider trading, as well as involvement in “Operation Car Wash,” one of the largest corruption investigations in Brazilian history. In 2017, JBS admitted to having bribed three Brazilian presidents and more than 1,800 other politicians with more than US$100 million.
Who Opposes JBS?
Unsurprisingly, many environmental, human rights, and animal protection groups oppose JBS but they are not alone. New York Attorney Letitia James is suing JBS for misleading consumers about its role in climate breakdown. McDonald’s is suing JBS (and others) for price fixing. Workers at a JBS processing plant in Illinois are suing the company for failing to compensate them for overtime. And in 2023, the Brazilian state of Rondônia issued a lawsuit against JBS for its links to deforestation.
Take Action Against JBS
We can all play a part in ending the environmental destruction, animal suffering, and human harms caused by this company. We can:
- Boycott their brands and the supermarkets and restaurants they supply. The meat will not be labeled as JBS, so we need to do our research!
- Sign the Greenpeace petition calling on governments to protect the Amazon.
- Share what you know about JBS with your friends and contacts. Everyone should know the devastation that JBS causes.
