Brazil probes 12 slaughterhouses for buying cattle from deforested land

Brazilian environment agency Ibama has notified 12 meatpacking plants, including two operated by JBS SA, of an inspection into their alleged involvement in a scheme to buy cattle from illegally cleared land in the Amazon rainforest, according to a document seen by Reuters on Friday.

Ibama on Thursday announced it was looking into 12 plants for such violations, but did not name the companies.

JBS said it did not have access to Ibama's inspection report and would need to review the findings.

Privately owned Frigol and Mercurio are also among the 12 beef producers under review, the document seen by Reuters showed.

Frigol responded that Ibama had made a mistake, adding it had not bought cattle from the farm the agency said had been illegally razed.

Mercurio Chairman Lincoln Bueno told Reuters a third-party firm monitors the origin of the animals it processes, and that it does not do business with properties with environmental and labor irregularities.

Ibama on Thursday said it was inspecting plants that were "acquiring suspicious cattle, triangulated with 'clean' farms, to disguise their illegal origin."

Ibama added that it had already fined six unnamed meatpackers 4 million reais (US$ 740,000) for directly buying 8,172 head of cattle from what it called "embargoed areas."