Brazil’s beef giant JBS linked to illegal deforestation and human rights abuses in Pará, says HRW

SAO PAULO — A major investigation by Human Rights Watch (HRW) has found that Brazil’s largest beef producer, JBS S.A., sourced cattle linked to illegal deforestation and human rights abuses in the Amazon state of Pará, with tainted products likely entering European markets through complex “cattle laundering” systems.

The October 2025 report, “Tainted: JBS and the EU’s Exposure to Human Rights Violations and Illegal Deforestation in Pará, Brazil,” details how illegal ranching inside protected Indigenous and rural territories is driving land seizures, forced evictions, and violent retaliation against local residents.

Illegal ranching and violence in Pará

According to HRW, landgrabbers have invaded protected areas such as the Cachoeira Seca Indigenous Territory—ancestral home of the Arara people—and the PDS Terra Nossa sustainable development settlement, clearing forests and establishing ranches. Residents who opposed the invasions reported threats, assaults, and killings.

“The entire settlement is invaded by landgrabbers… depending on what people do or say, they even threaten to kill,” one resident told HRW in November 2024

The organization documented widespread forced evictions, destruction of crops, and loss of livelihood. Indigenous leaders described the deforestation as an attack on their cultural survival. “We don’t feel safe at home because of the invaders who are destroying our forest,” said an Arara village chief.

Cattle laundering into JBS supply chains

HRW’s analysis found that Pará’s state animal health agency, Adepará, authorized the transport of cattle from illegal ranches in protected zones to legally registered farms outside, which then supplied JBS slaughterhouses.

Through this system, the illegal origin of cattle is concealed, allowing beef and leather from tainted sources to enter global markets. HRW identified three JBS facilities — Andradina (São Paulo), Colíder (Mato Grosso), and Marabá (Pará) — as possible recipients of such cattle.

Despite JBS’s public commitments to eliminate deforestation from its supply chain by 2025, the company does not trace its indirect suppliers. HRW concluded that JBS “could not guarantee that tainted cattle from the PDS Terra Nossa and Cachoeira Seca did not enter its supply chain.”

Human rights and environmental violations

The report links JBS operations to forced evictions, land fraud, and environmental destruction, violating Brazil’s obligations under international human rights and environmental law.

Other watchdogs, including the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA) and Brazil’s Pastoral Land Commission (CPT), have previously warned that Pará remains a hotspot for violence against land defenders, illegal land claims, and forest fires.

European exposure and regulatory risk

JBS’s Brazilian beef and leather exports to Europe expose the EU to supply-chain risks under the EU Deforestation-Free Regulation (EUDR), which takes effect on December 30, 2025. The law requires companies to trace all farms linked to imported cattle products and verify that no deforestation occurred after 2020.

Given Brazil’s lack of national cattle traceability and opacity in movement permits, HRW warned that EU importers of Brazilian beef and leather could face compliance challenges and reputational damage. Italy, Belgium, France, Germany, and Spain were identified as major importers of beef and hides from JBS’s implicated facilities.

Call for accountability

HRW urged Brazil’s federal government to remove illegal ranchers, prosecute landgrabbers, and restore the affected forests. It also called on the state of Pará to strengthen law enforcement and fully implement its animal traceability system by 2026.

The organization recommended that JBS compensate affected communities and establish birth-to-slaughter traceability to prevent illegal cattle from entering its supply chain.

EU governments were urged to scrutinize imports from the implicated JBS plants and support Brazil’s reforms through funding and technical cooperation.

Global implications

The HRW report aligns with findings from Imazon and Chain Reaction Research, which warn that Brazil’s beef giants — JBS, Marfrig, and Minerva — remain unlikely to comply with the EU’s deforestation law without systemic reform.

Analysts say the case underscores how global meat demand continues to fuel deforestation, climate change, and violence in the Amazon. As the EUDR’s enforcement deadline approaches, Brazil and the EU face mounting pressure to align trade with human rights and environmental protection.