VegNews: World’s Largest Meat Company Profits Drop 80 Percent
by Anna Starostinetskaya | August 21, 2017
Troubled Brazilian meat giant JBS reports massive dip in earnings after global meat scandal.
Last week, Brazilian meat company JBS reported a 79.8-percent decrease in net profits in the company’s second quarter compared to the same time period in 2016. The troubled meat processing company—the largest in the world—attributes its losses to the scandal in which it has been embroiled since March, when members of “Operation Weak Flesh” uncovered a conspiracy where, among other tresspasses, JBS bribed health officials and politicians to allow the sale of meat adulterated with chemicals to hide its rotten smell. Since then, several JBS executives have been terminated, the company was fined millions of dollars, and a number of countries around the world have banned the import of meat from Brazil. According to animal-rights organization Mercy For Animals, the first day of the multi-country ban resulted in a sharp decrease in Brazil’s daily meat export—from $63 million to just $74,000. In positive news, food technology companies are currently developing technologies in which a small amount of animal cells are grown into “clean meat” using a plant-based medium in a setting where food borne illness is not a concern, eliminating the need to adulter diseased meat.