The Troubled Traceability of Brazilian Beef and Amazon Deforestation
JBS, the world’s largest meatpacking company, has acknowledged significant weaknesses in its ability to guarantee the origin of its cattle and ensure compliance with environmental laws regarding Amazon deforestation. A recent filing with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission revealed that the company’s current cattle tracing system, the GTA (Sistema de Identificação e Rastreabilidade de Bovinos e Bubalinos – system for Identification and Traceability of Cattle and Buffalo), contains loopholes that prevent a reliable link between beef products and their source.
JBS admitted, “ther can be no assurance that available monitoring procedures can ensure that the origin of any head of cattle was in full compliance with applicable laws.” The company has pledged to require its suppliers to disclose their suppliers by 2026, but concerns remain about the verification and enforcement of this data.
Advocates argue that a comprehensive solution requires federal government intervention. Tellez of Human Rights Watch stated, “The best solution is for the federal government itself to institute a traceability mechanism for cattle across Brazil,” noting that government progress on this front has been “extremely slow.”
This isn’t the first time JBS has made commitments regarding traceability. In 2009, the company signed the G4 Cattle Agreement with Greenpeace, promising to identify all indirect suppliers by 2011. This deadline was missed.Cristiane Mazzetti, a forest campaign coordinator at Greenpeace Brazil, criticized the repeated unfulfilled promises, stating, “It’s unacceptable that companies such as JBS have not fulfilled the promises that they made in the past.” She emphasized the need for stronger government regulation, arguing that relying on voluntary corporate commitments is insufficient. JBS did not respond to a request for comment from Al Jazeera.
Despite the challenges, some regulatory changes are underway. In 2023,the governor of Pará state introduced a decree mandating full traceability of animal movements within the state by the end of 2026. At the federal level,the Ministry of Agriculture announced a plan in December 2024 requiring all states to implement cattle tracking systems by 2032.
However, Human Rights Watch contends that the 2032 federal timeline is too distant, potentially allowing illegal ranching to continue for years. Experts suggest immediate steps,including making GTA data publicly accessible,would aid law enforcement in identifying fraudulent activity and tracing cattle to illegal origins.
Lisandro inakake, an agronomist with the Brazilian environmental nonprofit Imaflora, explained that companies struggle with traceability due to “minimal access to public data on the production chain” and a lack of “universal market requirements covering all of the companies’ operations.”
Ultimately, Mazzetti believes a shift in approach is necessary. “It’s not time for new promises,” she said. “It’s time to be held accountable for all the impacts that their supply chain generated in the amazon,in other ecosystems,and also on the climate.”
