Our Products

Product Innovation

Innovation is essential to our ongoing evolution. It drives us to develop more efficient practices that improve environmental performance, team member health and safety, food safety and quality, and animal welfare – all while continuing to provide high-quality food to millions of people worldwide. This mindset reflects our belief that we all have a role to play in building a better future. By continuously investing in research and state-of-the-art technology, we keep innovation central to how we develop new products, monitor raw materials, operate our facilities, and recycle and repurpose waste.

Research, Development, and Monitoring

We take a structured approach to product innovation, grounded in research and development (R&D) and stakeholder collaboration. All R&D activities – such as new product development, pilots, and product improvements – are guided by applicable legislation, industry guidelines, internal policies, customer needs, and consumer insights.

We continuously monitor changes in consumer preferences and shifts in the regulatory landscape as key inputs to our product innovation approach. Today, there is a growing demand for products with cleaner labels, healthier formulas, and responsibly sourced ingredients. Together with public and private sector partners, we are innovating to create more nutritious food options while maintaining exceptional flavor, including through the use of new ingredients, storage methods, and processing technologies. For example, in partnership with Colorado State University (CSU), we established the JBS Global Food Innovation Center, a research and education hub focused on advancing food safety, meat sciences, and animal welfare practices. The Global Food Innovation Center plays a key role in education and training initiatives, while also conducting equipment testing to support continuous improvement.

Learn more about the JBS Global Food Innovation Center.

Case Studies:

In 2023, JBS Australia secured funding from the Australian Meat Processing Corporation (AMPC) to trial the “Econoliser”, a new and cutting-edge sterilization technology designed to reduce water and energy consumption in food processing while maintaining the high food safety standards our operations require.

Traditional sterilization methods used in food processing are known to be water- and energy-intensive. The Econoliser works by activating sprays that efficiently remove residues such as fat, protein, and bacteria from knife blades, offering a more sustainable alternative without compromising food safety. The trials conducted across a selected number of JBS Australian processing plants showed a reduction in GHG emissions of up to 92% with similar water savings (95-98%). JBS has since invested in implementing the Econoliser into some workstations that were suitable for retrofitting and will continue to deploy the technology as part of plant equipment upgrades.

To stay ahead of the shifting needs of consumers, Seara launched the Seara Innovation Hub, a structured process for managing innovation that tracks consumer demands, market trends, new ingredients, and technologies.

The Innovation Hub allows Seara to apply insights from ongoing research to the development of new products. Through this framework, Seara can continuously monitor emerging habits, challenges, and consumer priorities. In 2024, Seara invested US$ 11.8 million in R&D and innovation. These efforts led to the successful launch of 117 innovative new products in 2024, with 78 introduced in the Brazilian market and 39 launched internationally.

JBS has taken significant steps to advance its R&D capabilities in the growing field of cultivated proteins, acquiring a controlling stake in BioTech Foods, a Spanish company with commercially viable technology in this space.

We are also investing approximately US$ 60 million to establish the first Research & Development Center for Food Biotechnology and Cultivated Protein in Brazil, as well as the JBS Biotech Innovation Center in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina. These state-of-the-art facilities will focus on researching and developing 100% Brazilian technology for cultivated protein production. The primary objective of these investments is to accelerate the scaling process and reduce production costs for cultivated protein, in anticipation of future commercialization. As part of this work, JBS has established an ethical committee to oversee the use of animals in cultivated meat trials. The committee, which includes animal welfare experts and representatives from reputable non-governmental organizations (NGOs), is responsible for overseeing these initiatives are conducted based on the highest ethical standards.

In 2024, the Seara Excelsior brand consolidated its Perceived Quality Program, leveraging sensory research to better understand consumer perceptions and consumption preferences.

This initiative tracks the performance of Excelsior products compared to key competitors in the market and includes ongoing research to explore emerging habits, behavioral trends, and new priorities among consumers. The Perceived Quality Program provides a valuable framework for guiding the company’s R&D and continuous improvement efforts. Notably, 100% of the products evaluated through the Perceived Quality tool met or exceeded the performance of competing products in the market.