Nearly 20 Years of Investigative Reporting: How the ‘Cow Washing’ Underbelly of Brazil’s Meat Industry Was Exposed

Foodthink Says

21 March is International Forest Day, with this year’s theme, “Forests: A Valuable Source of Food”. Yet on the other side of the world, Brazil’s beef industry continues to expand at the cost of felled forests and lost biodiversity. Faced with international demands to halt deforestation, major meat processors have long denied complicity, deflecting responsibility downstream to ranches further along the supply chain. Nevertheless, a collective of Brazilian investigators has peeled back the curtain to expose the systematic deforestation driven by these corporations. This mirrors the transnational supply chains laid bare in the widely read article “Fake Meat” Displaces Real Meat: Dining Tables, Herders, and the Amazon, which was funded by Foodthink: among the imported frozen meats undermining the livelihoods of herders in Qinghai and Tibet is deforestation-linked beef, exacting a severe environmental toll. We also take this opportunity to urge readers to reflect on what truly constitutes an environmentally sustainable model of food production.

● The beef tin supply chain from Brazil to Europe and North America. Source: Repórter Brasil report

A seal of inspection from the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture, alongside a string of over twenty export tracking digits, indicates that this tin of beef in front of us was imported from Brazil.

Yet this unassuming tin, readily available at budget supermarket chains such as Sainsbury’s in the UK and Albert Heijn in the Netherlands, has become crucial evidence for the environmental research organisation Repórter Brasil in its investigation into JBS, Brazil’s largest meat producer, over the sale of beef linked to illegal deforestation.

As the world’s leading beef exporter, Brazil is home to more than 200 million head of livestock, with 40 per cent originating from the biodiverse Amazon region.

Driven by government policies promoting agricultural and pastoral expansion, this vast carbon sink—often dubbed the “lungs of the Earth”—has been relentlessly stripped of its forests to make way for grazing land and soybean crops. Over the first two decades of the twenty-first century, deforestation across the Brazilian Amazon reached a staggering 44 million hectares. Clearing and burning the forest provides low-cost fodder and grazing resources for livestock, cementing the cost advantage of Brazil’s beef industry.

● Livestock grazing on deforested pastures.

Faced with the severe environmental toll, the Brazilian government introduced the “Terms of Adjusted Conduct” (TAC da Carne) in 2009, a regulatory measure targeting the meat supply chain that explicitly banned the sale of products linked to illegal deforestation.

But where there is a regulation, there is a workaround. When cattle from illegally cleared pastures are covertly transferred to registered, compliant farms to be processed as lawful goods, the practice is known as “cattle laundering”.

Over the past decade, Repórter Brasil has developed a rigorous investigative methodology to trace this cattle laundering. The organisation’s director, Marcel Gomes, was subsequently awarded the 2024 Goldman Environmental Prize, pulling back the curtain on one facet of the murky debate surrounding deforestation in Brazil.

● Marcel Gomes being interviewed for the Goldman Environmental Prize.

I.“Cattle Laundering”: A Supply Chain Conspiracy

Brazil’s meat supply chain can be divided into six stages: breeding, rearing, fattening, direct supply, slaughtering, and processing. This intricate web of upstream and downstream relationships provides a natural breeding ground for “cow washing”.

● Diagram of the Brazilian beef supply chain tiers. Source: GEI

Monopolies led by JBS, Marfrig, and Minerva firmly control the slaughterhouses and meat processing plants at the upstream end of the supply chain, purchasing beef cattle through lower-tier suppliers.

However, many ranches do not supply these corporations directly. Instead, they only handle the early rearing of calves on pasture—a phase known as backgrounding (where calves primarily develop bone structure rather than putting on weight). These feeder cattle (referred to in the text as “skinny cattle”) are sent to fattening farms, and only reach market weight after this finishing stage. “Cow washing” typically occurs during these transit phases.

“Ranchers who are related by family can transfer livestock between each other freely, without the need for formal documentation,” Marcel explained in an interview with *Yale Environment 360*. “Ranchers can also play numbers games: by shifting land boundaries, they can divide a single ranch into ‘legal’ and ‘illegal’ zones, thereby legitimising the provenance of cattle raised on illicit sections by giving them a legal cover.”

Although Brazil’s Animal Transport Guide mandates that a Guia de Trânsito Animal (GTA)—which includes information on the animals’ origin—must be provided during transit, this data is not made public.

Furthermore, the GTA only records details for a single transport leg. It does not cover the entire supply chain, cannot verify whether cattle have been moved across multiple ranches, and is incapable of tracking whether animals originated from areas affected by illegal deforestation.

Multiple livestock transfers and regulatory loopholes have become the shield companies use to dodge tracing “cattle laundering”. Under pressure from environmental campaigners such as Greenpeace, meat processors led by JBS have signed voluntary pledges including the Zero Deforestation Agreement and the G4 Cattle Agreement, committing not to purchase cattle raised on illegally deforested land.

Yet JBS has continually sidestepped its corporate due diligence duties. On more than one occasion, the company has claimed it “can only trace back to direct suppliers,” professing helplessness in the face of “cattle laundering”.

Repórter Brasil decided to step in themselves, bridging the final gap in the deforestation evidence trail to prove that traceability is indeed possible. Cross-referencing satellite imagery, environmental fines, and traceability records, they pinpointed the implicated ranches and companies. By partnering with trade unions and Indigenous communities for interviews and field investigations, they laid bare this convenient pretext.

II. Unable to Trace, or Actively Laundering Cattle?

In July 2019, a JBS-branded lorry loaded with 250 head of livestock stood ready to depart. Driver Ale inadvertently captured the name of Ranch F in a photograph, which he subsequently posted to social media. Investigators from Repórter Brasil, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism (TBIJ), and The Guardian followed the trail and discovered that Ranch F lies in the southernmost reaches of the Amazon rainforest. The government had placed its 1,455 hectares under a grazing embargo due to deforestation and issued a fine of 2.2 million Brazilian reais (approximately 2.78 million RMB). The lorry’s destination, Feedlot S, was in fact a direct supplier to JBS.

● A JBS truck pictured alongside a deforestation-linked ranch, captured by driver Ale. Original source: Facebook

Moreover, the investigation revealed that JBS was far from “unable to trace” its supply chain; on the contrary, it was actively soliciting cattle haulage contracts from ranches linked to deforestation.

First, driver Ale and his colleagues were all JBS employees. Second, the transport route first moved feeder cattle from Ranch F to Feedlot S, before loading the fattened cattle for delivery to JBS’s own slaughterhouse—this so-called “three-legged journey” had long been an open secret in the industry. The investigation found that JBS consistently promoted the use of its own trucks to transport cattle along this route.

Estimates suggest that between 2018 and 2019, at least 7,000 head of livestock from Ranch A were “laundered” via the same route into the JBS supply chain, meaning that thousands of tonnes of beef linked to illegal deforestation reached the market within a single year.

● “Cow laundering” route map: Repórter Brasil report.

This is far from an isolated case. In 2022, faced with a separate investigation jointly launched by Brazil Reporters and other organisations, JBS was forced to admit it had purchased 9,000 head of livestock from Charles Pozzebon, widely cited as “one of Brazil’s biggest deforesters”. Sentenced to 99 years in prison, Pozzebon and his family cleared 2,844 hectares of forest in the Amazon before “washing” the cattle through legitimate ranches to supply JBS.

Marcel commented: “If these meat producers were to sever ties with the grey areas in their supply chains, they would lose a substantial portion of the market. That is precisely why they have deliberately chosen not to monitor their full supply chains.” Put simply, without this practice of “cow-washing”, JBS’s annual revenue would not have reached $78 billion.

There is currently no definitive estimate of what proportion of JBS’s meat production relies on “cow-washing”. According to satellite data analysed by the research initiative Trase, deforestation and land conversion driven by Brazil’s livestock sector between 2016 and 2020 totalled 292,000 hectares—an area larger than the water surface of China’s Lake Tai. JBS accounted for the largest share, rising from 206,000 hectares in 2016 to 231,000 in 2020. Correspondingly, its total beef exports have now exceeded one million tonnes.

●Land cleared through deforestation is not only used for grazing; a significant portion is also held for land speculation. Beyond the Amazon rainforest, the savannas of the Cerrado region are likewise a major hotspot for deforestation in Brazil. Image source: Trase

This staggering figure indicates that “cow-washing” is, in fact, woven into the very fabric of JBS’s business model.Without the persistent efforts of environmental organisations such as Repórter Brasil, the vast majority of “cow-washing” cases would simply vanish into obscurity, leaving illegal deforestation to proceed as an unaccountable scourge.

III.“From Table to Ranch”

This Brazilian beef, of opaque and untraceable origins, flows steadily across the globe via shipping containers, with Asia, the Middle East, and Africa as the main import destinations. In 2019, the EU imported $3 billion worth of beef from JBS, Marfrig, and Minerva, accounting for just 6.3% of Brazil’s total exports. Yet it was precisely from this market that the wave of resistance against deforestation-linked beef first gathered momentum.

In 2020, the international advocacy group Mighty Earth partnered with Repórter Brasil to launch a cross-Atlantic campaign targeting Brazilian beef exported to Europe, applying pressure on both production and consumption fronts.

● Supply chain traceability for meat products from retail giant Carrefour. Red, blue, and orange markers denote slaughterhouses owned by JBS, Marfrig and Minerva, respectively.

Working together, the two organisations recruited an investigative team drawn from four European countries. They visited major chain supermarkets in search of JBS meat products, photographing the Brazilian Ministry of Agriculture seal and export tracking codes on the packaging.

Despite the existence of traceability systems maintained by the Brazilian government and the meat industry—such as the Rural Environmental Registry (Cadastro Ambiental Rural, CAR) and animal transport permits—the data remains fragmented overall, and self-reported information is difficult to verify. Marcelo and his team invested considerable effort in piecing together these scattered public records to build the Cattle Tracker database, which is updated once a year.

● The Cattle Tracker database developed by Repórter Brasil.

In this system, “Brazilian Reporters” use export tracking codes to trace meat products step by step, back through packaging plants, processing facilities and slaughterhouses, until satellite imagery pinpoints the cattle ranch. Where a ranch in question has previously faced sanctions or fines for deforestation, they work alongside local agricultural labourers and Indigenous communities to carry out on-the-ground verification. The rainforest is fraught with peril, a territory dominated by illegal syndicates. In June 2022, Phillips, a British environmental journalist and long-standing contributor to The Guardian, was murdered in the Amazon region. He was accompanied by Pereira, an Indigenous guide; both were dedicated to defending Indigenous rights and protecting the rainforest.

Following this tragedy, Marcel and his team suspended field investigations for a considerable period. Consequently, “Brazilian Reporters” consistently acknowledge the contributions of agricultural workers and Indigenous communities across various platforms. They do more than guide investigative teams to locate ranches, map the routes of transport lorries, and put reporters in touch with workers willing to speak out about forced labour; they also frequently shield the teams from violent attacks.

IV. Exerting Pressure on Retailers

● Mighty Earth publicly protests JBS’s complicity in deforestation.

Meanwhile, Mighty Earth has spearheaded a broad consumer advocacy campaign across Europe. By publicly protesting JBS’s environmental misdeeds, they have worked to raise consumers’ ecological awareness.

In 2021, Repórter Brasil published an investigative report titled *Cattle eating up the world’s largest rainforest*, exposing how major European and US retailers were selling beef sourced from Brazilian ranches implicated in deforestation.

Drawing on research from market research firm YouGov and Mighty Earth, the report found that 87% of consumers surveyed in the UK were opposed to supermarkets doing business with companies linked to Amazon deforestation, while 56% expressed a willingness to buy ‘zero-deforestation’ products.

● Repórter Brasil’s landmark 2021 report: *Cattle eating up the world’s largest rainforest*. Image source: Repórter Brasil official website.

Practical experience has shown that mobilising consumer pressure on retailers is a highly effective strategy.

In mid-2021, Marcelo circulated a draft of the report to every stakeholder across the supply chain—JBS, supermarket chains, traders, and public health authorities alike—calling for a response. Meanwhile, Mighty Earth opened direct channels with the supermarkets themselves.

Unsurprisingly, JBS continued to deny any link to the ranches implicated in the report’s findings on ‘cattle laundering’. Instead, they pledged to enhance traceability through blockchain innovation, claiming they aim to eradicate illegal deforestation from the Amazon beef supply chain by 2025 and from all other Brazilian biomes by 2030. Marfrig and Minerva issued similar pledges.

Repórter Brasil cautioned that if the industry’s big three, led by JBS, continue to rely on easily falsified traceability data to monitor their direct suppliers, these pledges will amount to little more than hot air.

Felipe Nunes, an expert specialising in data analysis and artificial intelligence, concurred that Brazil need not invent new mechanisms. Rather, he argued, the country should leverage existing public datasets to build a comprehensive, transparent cross-verification system, enabling more effective mapping and monitoring of the national livestock supply chain.

● The Repórter Brasil team cross-referencing satellite data.

Following the report’s official publication, six major supermarket chains—including Sainsbury’s in the UK, Carrefour in Belgium, and Auchan in France—announced they would boycott JBS beef imports. For the meatpacker, this translated to revenue losses running into the millions of dollars.

More recently, the EU market has raised the bar again for Brazilian beef products seeking entry.

At the end of 2024, the EU Zero Deforestation Regulation officially came into force. It mandates that all companies trading in relevant agricultural commodities—including Brazilian bovine products such as leather, beef, and offal—must legally demonstrate that their goods were not produced on land subject to recent deforestation.

● In October 2022, Repórter Brasil gathered evidence of Marfrig’s procurement of deforestation-linked products for the world’s first climate lawsuit against a financial institution, which accused BNP Paribas of financing meat companies implicated in deforestation. Image source: Friends of the Earth website screenshot.

Will the Brazilian meat industry see meaningful change over the next decade? Marcel harbours little hope. Although European consumers have set a precedent by boycotting JBS, shoppers in Brazil and the United States remain unmoved. Ironically, whilst attending the Goldman Environmental Prize awards ceremony in California, Marcel found JBS products still stocked on supermarket shelves.

Fast-food chains such as McDonald’s and Burger King have also claimed to be engaging with their meat suppliers, yet there has been no substantial progress to date.

V.Beyond the “Cow Washing” Controversy

The persistent illegal deforestation and “cow washing” represent just one facet of the scandals plaguing Brazil’s meat industry. Just four months ago, the EU and the UK announced a suspension of Brazilian beef imports, citing the frequent detection of estradiol—a growth-promoting hormone banned in the EU—in the meat. They have demanded that Brazil propose alternative measures within 12 months, overhaul its current beef certification and traceability frameworks, and guarantee compliance with European food safety standards.

Furthermore, the meat sector’s violation of workers’ rights has long been a focal point for Brazil Reporters. In July 2024, alongside the Research Centre for Multinational Corporations (SOMO), they released an investigative report exposing the appalling working conditions faced by staff at JBS and Marfrig slaughterhouses.

Across Brazil, over 137,000 workers are employed in packaging roles at slaughterhouses. They are forced to endure excessively long shifts and meet relentless production targets. Eighty per cent suffer from occupational illnesses, while 40 per cent have sustained accidental injuries from knives, machinery, or the hooks used to hoist animal carcasses. On top of this, cases of forced labour and encroachment on indigenous land rights remain distressingly common.

● A report on labour rights in the meat industry, jointly published by SOMO and Repórter Brasil. Image source: Repórter Brasil website.

Yet in China—the largest importer of Brazilian beef—attitudes towards imported beef are shifting.

Last November, livestock associations across the country jointly petitioned the Ministry of Commerce, arguing that cheap, high-volume imports are severely disrupting the domestic beef cattle sector. They urged the ministry to implement safeguard measures to protect local producers. On 31 March, the Ministry will hold a hearing to decide whether trade remedies should be introduced.

JBS is estimated to account for 20–30 per cent of China’s total beef imports, while Marfrig operates the largest number of South American processing plants authorised to export to China. Public records show that JBS has also signed partnerships with JD Fresh and Hema, serving as a strategic supplier for both retailers.

● Left: Brazilian beef brisket on sale at a Hema supermarket in Beijing, produced at a Marfrig facility. Photograph: Foodthink. Right: Frozen Brazilian beef from JBS in a meat shop in a pastoral region of Qinghai. Photograph: Wei Yiran & Pu Xhuaxiribue.

In the first half of 2024, imported Brazilian beef averaged 36.81 yuan per jin, compared with 66.63 yuan per jin for domestic beef. Profit margins for China’s domestic beef cattle industry have already slipped to a perilous -11.74%. Behind the low price of Brazilian meat lie various costs left unaccounted for. Should no one be held accountable for the decimated forests, and should these costs continue to be externalised, the ensuing chain reaction on the global environment will likely prove incalculable.

References

https://gijn.org/stories/investigating-cattle-laundering-deforestation-amazon-goldman-prize-2024/https://e360.yale.edu/features/marcel-gomes-interview