Carrefour suspends business with Brazilian meat firms involved in slavery

As of Wednesday 18 September, Carrefour and Brazilian supermarket chain Grupo Pão de Açucar (GPA) have suspended the purchase of meat from Brazilian firms involved in slave labour, according to Thomson Reuters Foundation.

The announcement came after the supermarket chains were attacked for buying meat sourced from blacklisted farmers.

In recent years, the French multinational supermarket and GPA have pledged to keep their supply chains free of slave labour.

According to the anti-slavery group Repórter Brasil, in 2018 and 2019 the retailers were found working with three meat packers that bought cattle from farms registered on Brazil’s ‘dirty list’.

Brazil’s ‘dirty list’ currently names 180 companies who have been caught with enslaved workers or were enforcing work in degrading conditions for little or no pay.

The government’s blacklist is used to fight modern-day slavery by preventing firms who have committed the crime from receiving loans from state banks.

Every year, Brazil exports billions of dollars of beef to countries including China. Cattle ranchers also supply meat to several of Carrefour and GPA’s Brazilian stores.

In a statement to the Thomson Reuters Foundation, Carrefour Brasil Group said: “After an internal investigation and explanations given by the supplier [we] decided to suspend the buying of products.”

GPA claims to have suspended two suppliers since they were made aware of this information.