In Brazil, a form of "cattle laundering" is practised that makes it impossible to know whether beef comes from animals raised in illegally destroyed areas.
The British newspaper Guardian has reported on what is being called "cattle laundering" in Amazonia — the process by which meat from illegal farms or farms responsible for deforestation of the rainforest ends up on supermarket shelves and restaurant plates, either through a lack of a traceable supply chain or by circumventing controls.
Brazil is the world's largest exporter of beef; 40 per cent of Brazilian livestock is raised in Amazonia, where thousands of hectares of forest are cleared — often illegally — to make way for pastureland, destroying biodiversity and contributing to climate change. Despite condemnation from environmentalists and investigative journalism, and demands from consumers and institutions for greater transparency, the supply chain's complexity and opacity can easily conceal the origin of the meat.
The Guardian explains how, from birth to slaughter, most cattle raised in Amazonia are moved between multiple farms. The first is the birth and weaning farm, where calves remain for nine months. Due to the risks associated with animal mortality, this is the stage with the greatest economic uncertainty for farmers, who therefore tend to have low levels of environmental compliance; it is a stage frequently linked to deforestation.
The calves are then transferred to a compliant farm, so that from this point onwards they can no longer be traced back to deforestation. They then move on to fattening farms where, being directly connected to slaughterhouses, they are subject to stricter controls and are for the most part compliant. In cases where they are not, sales are directed towards less regulated markets, such as the Chinese market. At slaughterhouses, the beef is processed and packaged: this is a profitable stage dominated by multinationals such as Jbs, Marfrig and Minerva.
To be certain of a product's origin, regulations would need to require companies to monitor both direct and indirect suppliers. In the European Union, beef (with the exception of preparations containing less than 99 per cent meat, such as some burgers) must carry a label stating the country of origin, the farm and the slaughterhouse.
As Slow Food also explains in a document calling for mirror clauses on imported products, this rule does not apply fully to animal products imported from third countries, for which European authorities require traceability only during the fattening and finishing stages. Italy is the leading European importer of Brazilian beef, which is used, for example, in the production of Valtellina bresaola — a product for which there is no obligation to indicate the origin of the meat on the label, as it is a PGI-certified cured beef product.