"Supermarkets drop Brazilian beef products linked to deforestation", 16 December 2021

...European supermarket chains J Sainsbury, Carrefour and Ahold Delhaize will stop selling several Brazilian meat products after an investigation found they contributed to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest...

...Brazil’s meat’s processing industry has long faced scrutiny over its supply chain and its impact on climate change. The decision by Sainsbury’s, the UK’s second-largest supermarket chain, the Belgian stores of Carrefour, the French retailer, and Albert Heijn, the biggest chain in the Netherlands and part of Ahold Delhaize, follows an investigation by environmental campaigners Mighty Earth and NGO Repórter Brasil...

The report highlights the risk of supply chain contamination by processed meat, where cows from deforested areas are sent to suppliers to be fattened and eventually slaughtered by processors such as JBS, Marfrig and Minerva...About a fifth of the beef the EU imports from Brazil each year has been linked to illegal deforestation in the Amazon rainforest and the Cerrado savannah...

Albert Heijn said on Thursday it would stop sourcing beef from Brazil for all of its stores.

Sainsbury’s said it would move its own brand corned beef away from Brazil...

Carrefour in Belgium and French retailer Auchan added that they would remove beef jerky products made by a JBS joint venture. Carrefour said it would “increase its surveillance in all its operating countries”, while Sainsbury’s said it had “played an active role in formulating clear asks for the beef industry in Brazil and engaged with meatpackers to achieve better supply chain transparency in the sector”.

Meanwhile, Lidl Netherlands said it would halt sales of South American beef from next month. Germany’s Metro, which stocked filet mignon from Marfrig, said it was in the process of investigating the report’s claims.

JBS said it had “no tolerance for illegal deforestation, forced labour, misuse of indigenous lands, conservation units or violations of environmental embargoes”. It added it had blocked suppliers that did not comply with its policies...

Marfrig said more than 60 per cent of its suppliers in the Amazon and 47 per cent in the Cerrado savannah had been mapped so far and it would map its entire supply chain by 2030.

Minerva said it had started tests with a digital tool, developed by the University of Wisconsin in partnership with the National Wildlife Federation, which assesses risks in the supply chain...