European supermarkets stop selling Brazilian beef due to deforestation

Six European supermarket chains, including two owned by Dutch company Ahold Delhaize and a subsidiary of Carrefour, said on Wednesday (15) they will no longer sell part or all of Brazil’s beef products due to links to deforestation of the Amazon forest.

The commitments range from the announcement by supermarket chain Lidl Netherlands, which has committed to stop selling all beef originating in South America from 2022, to more targeted decisions to suspend the sale of certain meat products.

Many of the affected products are from JBS, the world’s largest meat processor.

The boycotts are a reaction to an investigation by the organization Repórter Brasil, which alleged that JBS used beef from pasture cows in illegally deforested areas, in a scheme known as “cattle washing”.

The scheme occurs when cattle raised on an illegally deforested plot of land are sold to a legitimate farm before being sold to a slaughterhouse to conceal their origin.

JBS told Reuters it has zero tolerance for illegal deforestation and has ruled out more than 14,000 suppliers for not complying with its policies. The company said that monitoring indirect suppliers — those that precede the final seller to the slaughterhouse — is a challenge for the entire industry, but that JBS will institute a system capable of doing so by 2025.

The meat processor said that Repórter Brasil’s survey mentioned only five out of 77,000 of its direct suppliers and that these suppliers were in line with its policies at the time of purchase.

Deforestation of the Brazilian Amazon, the world’s largest rainforest, has soared since President Jair Bolsonaro took office in 2019 and repealed environmental protection measures. He advocates more agriculture and mining in the region, including on indigenous reserves.

In 2021, deforestation reached a 15-year high. Most of the devastated land is used for raising livestock.

Among other commitments from European markets, Albert Heijn, a subsidiary of Ahold Delhaize, which is the largest supermarket chain in the Netherlands, will completely suspend the purchase of beef from Brazil.

A spokesman for Albert Heijn told Reuters that the company currently only sells a few products of Brazilian origin per week.

French company Auchan will also no longer offer meat products linked to JBS on its shelves. Belgium’s Carrefour and Delhaize supermarkets will no longer sell Jack Link’s jerk beef brand.

JBS and Jack Link’s have a joint venture. Jack Link’s did not respond to a request for comment.

British Sainsbury’s said it will no longer source the beef it sells under its own brand from Brazil, but that 90% of its beef is already supplied by the UK and Ireland.