Our Animals

Processing and Handling

The welfare of livestock, poultry, and aquaculture in our production facilities is regulated by the following standards depending on region and protein:

Australia: Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines; Australian Standard for the Hygienic Production and Transportation of Meat and Meat Products for Human Consumption
Brazil: Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock / Federal Inspection Service (MAPA/SIFI)
Canada: Canadian Food Insoection Agency (CFIA) Meat Inspection
Europe: Council Regulation N^O 1099/2009
Mexico: Buenas Prácticas Pecuarias en Producción de Pollo de Engorda de SADER y SENASICA
United States: U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and Food Safety and Inspection Services (FSIS)

Animal welfare responsibilities are managed by our Animal Welfare and Food Safety and Quality Assurance teams. Every facility has a full-time Quality Assurance Manager, Animal Welfare Manager, Animal Welfare Officer (AWO), veterinarian, or access to a regional team member who is responsible for overseeing the implementation of our animal welfare program. This includes facility assessment, training programs, and ongoing monitoring.

In the U.S., Brazil and Canada, these team members are humane handling specialists certified by the Professional Animal Auditor Certification Organization (PAACO).
In Australia, team members working with cattle, smallstock, and hogs are trained according to industry AWO skills. Additionally, facilities are accredited by the Australia Livestock Processing Industry Animal Welfare Certification System (AAWCS).
Huon has central and regional fish health teams that advocate for and oversee health, welfare, and biosecurity across all sites. Currently, 98% of Huon salmon are raised to the RSPCA’s Standard for farmed Atlantic salmon.
In our Pilgrim’s Europe poultry facilities, they are certified through Animal Welfare Training Ltd., and all personnel handling chickens must have a certificate of competency (COC). This is an assessed qualification issued by the regional regulatory authorities: Food Standards Agency (FSA) in Great Britain or the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Rural Affairs (DAERA) in Northern Ireland.
In our Pilgrim’s Europe Pork facilities, they are accredited according to Bristol University or Livestockwise.
Other animal welfare certifications include Global GAP and Certified Humane, for our Seara operations; Royal Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) certification, for our Pilgrim’s Europe Pork and Huon operations; and the National Feedlot Accreditation Scheme (NFAS), for our Australian feedlot operations.

In addition, each production facility has team members from animal handling, processing, quality assurance, operations, procurement, and human resources who work to ensure that the policies and procedures required by their animal welfare programs, including annual training of all team members, are being correctly implemented and followed.

We have a zero-tolerance policy for abuse of any kind, and all team members are required to report any violations, either anonymously through our Ethics Line or directly to management. Team members or family farm and ranch partners who violate our Animal Welfare Policy and associated procedures are subject to disciplinary action including termination of employment, termination of contract and/or reporting to the government authority responsible for overseeing animal welfare.

Training

All new JBS team members in relevant areas, such as live operations, catching, transportation, receiving, and quality assurance, receive department-specific animal welfare training during orientation, and all team members who handle animals must attend annual refresher trainings. Appropriate management teams make sure that all training requirements are completed as scheduled, documented, and available for review.

Audits

Production facilities are audited regularly to guarantee compliance with our animal welfare programs. Quality assurance personnel conduct daily audits to verify adherence to each country’s respective compliance program, depending on the protein. Government inspectors also monitor animal welfare practices daily to guarantee compliance with regulations.

Production facilities typically undergo third-party animal handling audits annually. If a violation is identified, immediate corrective action is taken, and internal follow-up audits are scheduled until the issue is resolved. We share corrective action strategies across the company so that all facilities can benefit from new knowledge and perspectives to drive continuous improvement in our approach to animal welfare.

In addition, we have implemented video auditing systems in many of our production facilities, which allow us to conduct real-time internal auditing from a viewing room and provide team members with immediate feedback for improvement. Our video footage is audited remotely by our animal welfare team and/or an independent third party. These independent reviews are designed to verify our ongoing commitment to best practices in animal handling and include alerts and daily summaries to facilities for process improvement.

Our Animal Handling Performance

		Animal Welfare Audits						Transportation Audits
		Internal Audits Passed		Third Party Audits				Third Party Audits
		Passed		Passed		Passed on the first attempt		Passed		Passed on the first attempt
Business	Protein	2022	2023	2022	2023	2022	2023	2022	2023	2022	2023
JBS Australia	Beef & Lamb	89%	100%	100%	100%	89%	93%	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Pork	100%	100%	100%	100%	89%	93%	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Fish	n/a	82%	n/a	100%	n/a	100%	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
JBS Brazil	Beef	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	98%
JBS Brazil	Chicken & Pork	99%	50%	88%	100%	99%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%
JBS USA	Beef	100%	98%	100%	100%	100%	96%	100%	100%	100%	100%
JBS USA	Pork	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	n/a
Pilgrim's Mexico	Chicken	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%
Pilgrim's Europe	Chicken	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%	100%
Pilgrim's Europe	Pork & Lamb	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	100%
Pilgrim's U.S.	Chicken	100%	93%	100%	100%	100%	100%	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
Rigamonti	Pork	n/a	100%	n/a	100%	n/a	100%	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a

Case Studies

JBS Australia operates feedlots across a range of climates that rely on shade to assist with heat management during the peak of Australian summer.

Shade acts as a shield that reduces heat load on our animals, as well as preventing solar radiation. This creates a cooler and more comfortable environment for our cattle and sheep. JBS rolled out a program to increase pen shade coverage by installing new shade at feedlots and upgrading existing shades. For example, upgrades were undertaken at our Riverina facility which increased the shade footprint of the pens that received the upgrades by 175%.

JBS USA Live Pork is on a journey to reduce the already low mortality rates in its breeding herds.

Sow mortality is multi-factorial, and focus is placed in several areas to generate improvement. An extensive review of genetic lines available revealed opportunity to alter sow genetics to improve sow mortality. Where genetic changes were made, the business recognized a reduction in mortality as expected and is expanding this genetic change within its owned breeding herds. JBS USA Live Pork also continues to work with all its genetic suppliers to improve sow mortality through controlled nutrition, optimized maturity at first mating, and improved selection of new sows based on structure. With the focus on genetics, selection, and nutrition across the business’, sow mortality has improved in the past two years and remains a priority moving forward.

In Australia, JBS processing plants set and met an aggressive key performance indicator (KPI) for using less than 10% prodding when handling cattle.

This is significantly below the industry standard of 25% in Australia, demonstrating our commitment to ensure the animals under our care are moved through the processing system according to industry best practices and methodologies.

In 2022, Huon Aquaculture continued to be the only RSPCA-certified Australian seafood producer. This ongoing partnership with the RSPCA allows for a focus on continuous improvement and enhanced welfare standards of fish. Each year, RSPCA evaluates Huon’s sites and farming practices, including freshwater and marine grow-out locations, against 400 detailed animal welfare standards. because animal welfare is a priority to Huon.

Over the past several years as salmon consumption has increased, so has the desire for consumers to know more about the salmon that they are eating. By continuing to maintain RSPCA approval, animal welfare is front-of-mind for our staff and builds consumer confidence that fish welfare needs are met.
Achieving and maintaining this accreditation hasn’t happened overnight—we have worked closely with the RSPCA Approved Farming Scheme over many years to meet their high standards, and it is something that everyone working for Huon has been instrumental in achieving.