"BULLSH*T: FORCED LABOR IN BRAZIL’S BEEF AND TALLOW SUPPLY CHAINS", July 2025

...The use of forced labor remains a pervasive and largely overlooked feature of the Brazilian cattle industry. On isolated ranches, often deep within ecologically vulnerable regions, workers are subjected to grueling conditions—clearing land under intense heat, sleeping in overcrowded shelters, and receiving little or no compensation. Many are recruited under false pretenses and find themselves unable to leave due to debt, isolation, or threats. The cattle raised in these conditions are eventually processed into beef and a wide array of derivative products, such as tallow and leather, which are exported around the world— linking everyday consumers to a hidden system of exploitation.

This report analyzes fifteen Brazilian government inspection reports of cattle ranches in six Brazilian states, issued between 2013 and 2024. These inspection reports documented forced labor on ranches that sell to slaughterhouses linked to the companies JBS, Minerva, Marfrig, Frigorifico Redentor, and Cooperfrigu, all of which export beef and beef products to the United States. Additionally, at least three ranches produced cattle connected to beef tallow processing facilities that sell to two U.S. companies, Diamond Green Diesel and Aramco Americas.

...On these ranches, workers engage in dangerous labor without personal protective equipment. The hours are long, sometimes over 60 hours a week, often with no overtime pay or vacation. At night, workers return to the tents or makeshift shacks where they sleep. There is often limited access to water or sanitary facilities, and limited means to store – or access – food. Such living conditions are so egregious that no one would willingly consent to them. JBS and Marfrig have expanded their footprint within the U.S. market in recent years, despite allegations and convictions related to price-fixing and bribery. To facilitate their commercial expansion in the United States, major Brazilian meat processing companies have bought out smaller U.S. companies, donated to U.S. political campaigns, and opened facilities in the United States. But, in some cases, these companies built their empires with little regard for U.S. or Brazilian law...

Both JBS and Marfrig executives have been penalized in Brazil for bribery...

Ethically tainted Brazilian beef and tallow have contaminated U.S. supply chains, undercutting the market for ethically-produced beef...

Companies' responses here.