Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — JBS USA, one of the biggest U.S. meatpackers, is creating an internal company to clean some of its processing plants after a private sanitation firm it employed was accused of hiring children for dangerous work. The launch shows the complexities involved in replacing Packers Sanitation Services Inc. (PSSI), a firm that […] Read more
JBS opens cleaning unit after outside firm fined for hiring kids
Company says has cut ties to cleaning contractor
JBS to pay US$25 million in latest beef price-fixing settlement
Settlement calls for co-operation in cases against other defendants
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — JBS SA has agreed to pay US$25 million to commercial beef purchasers that accused the meat-packing company of conspiring with industry rivals to restrict market supply in order to keep prices artificially high. The proposed settlement in Minnesota federal court was disclosed on Friday from plaintiffs’ lawyers representing a class of businesses that […] Read more
China agrees to resume imports of Brazilian beef
Beijing authorizes four new Brazilian plants
Reading Time: 2 minutes Beijing/Sao Paulo | Reuters –– Efforts by the Brazilian government to lift a month-long ban on beef exports to China paid off on Thursday, as Beijing agreed to resume imports while also approving four new beef packers based in Brazil, according to authorities in both countries. China’s General Administration of Customs approved the resumption of […] Read more
Beef consumption to rise in China, JBS predicts
China seen as more competitive in domestic chicken, pork markets
Reading Time: < 1 minute Sao Paulo | Reuters — Demand for beef in China is expected to rise as the country still has relatively low per capita consumption, Gilberto Tomazoni, chief executive of JBS SA, said on Wednesday during a business conference. He said Brazil and the U.S., where JBS has meat facilities, are well positioned to meet China’s […] Read more
Meatpacker JBS’s plunging profit beats forecasts
Reading Time: < 1 minute Sao Paulo | Reuters — Brazil’s JBS SA, the world’s largest meat producer, on Thursday said quarterly profit plunged 47.1 per cent, but results still beat analysts’ estimates as higher revenues helped offset shrinking margins in its U.S. beef division. The company posted a third-quarter net profit of 4.01 billion reais (C$1.001 billion), while analysts […] Read more
Meatpacker JBS to close U.S. plant-based foods business
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Brazilian meatpacker JBS is closing its U.S. plant-based foods business, Planterra Foods, after about two years, the company said on Monday. The closure signals increasing troubles in the plant-based protein sector, where U.S. sales are flattening. Colorado-based Planterra sold fake meat under the Ozo brand, but JBS will now focus on […] Read more
Smithfield Foods to pay US$75 million in pork price-fixing settlement
Follows similar settlement by JBS
Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — Smithfield Foods has agreed to pay US$75 million to settle a lawsuit by consumers who accused the meat producer and several competitors of conspiring to inflate prices in the $20 billion-a-year U.S. pork market by limiting supply. A preliminary settlement in the antitrust case was filed on Tuesday night with the federal court […] Read more
JBS quarterly profit falls almost 10 per cent but tops estimates
Cattle prices 'above the expected level'
Reading Time: 2 minutes Sao Paulo | Reuters — JBS, the world’s largest meatpacker, posted an almost 10 per cent drop in net profits, to US$766 million, driven by the relative weakness of its U.S. beef and pork units in the second quarter, according to an earnings statement on Thursday. Still, it beat analysts’ forecasts. JBS reported a 4.6 […] Read more
JBS to automate beef warehousing at Brooks
Packer to replace current fully manual system
Reading Time: 2 minutes International meat packer JBS has enlisted a major robotics and automation company to overhaul the warehousing system at one of Canada’s biggest beef plants. JBS Foods Canada on Friday announced a $71 million project in partnership with New Zealand-based Scott Technology, to design and build a system that can handle and store up to 85,000 […] Read more
CEOs of four large U.S. meatpackers to testify in Congressional hearing
Beef prices up for consumers, down for ranchers
Reading Time: < 1 minute Washington | Reuters — The chief executives of U.S. meatpackers Cargill, Tyson Foods, JBS and National Beef Packing have agreed to testify at a Congressional hearing discussing cattle markets and price increases for consumers, House agriculture committee chairman David Scott said Wednesday. “It is very important, very vital, and very urgent that we hear the […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
