Two days after we caught Tesco stocking beef products linked to trashed Amazon rainforest in Brazil, the company has been in touch today to tell me that they have decided to cease all contracts with JBS Brazil. They have put together a public statement making their position clear.
This couldn’t have happened without your help. Not only did many of you email Tesco this week, but research by Greenpeace volunteers in supermarkets around the country enabled us to make the links in the report.
This is good news for the Amazon. It means that Tesco will no longer stock any beef products from JBS Brazil in their 5380 stores in 14 countries across the globe. We will continue to be in touch with Tesco about how they can ensure that their sourcing doesn’t drive deforestation.
JBS Brazil committed to end its role in deforestation back in 2009 but we discovered they are not keeping to this and continue to buy from farms that destroy the Amazon. The expansion of cattle ranches is the biggest cause of deforestation in the Amazon.
Tesco’s decision is a blow to JBS in a week where they have already lost contracts with Adidas and follows moves by companies such as Ikea, Sainsburys, Clarks and Asda to switch suppliers. Clearly, these companies do not want their brands to be associated with JBS’s destructive practices.
Let’s hope that JBS gets the message. They need to prove that they no longer buy from farms that destroy the Amazon before their former customers will consider buying from them again.
