São Paulo, June 5, 2019 – Márcio Nappo, JBS Sustainability director, attended the InPACTO (National Pact Institute to Eradicate Slave Labor) 5-year Anniversary Seminar in São Paulo. In the event, he shared experiences about efforts to eradicate forced labor and discussed the main challenges Brazilian companies face to encourage wider adoption of best practices across the country.
During “The path, the lessons learned and the context” panel, Nappo talked about JBS’s leading role in efforts to monitor, prevent and counter forced labor across its supply chain. The Company currently has a new monitoring system which is being used to map areas where there is a risk of forced labor in the Amazon, the region with the highest number of cases involving forced labor in Brazil.
The tool, called Hotspot Mapping, takes a new approach by addressing the issue to two different perspectives: geographic/territorial and social/economic/demographic. This means the Company can also develop action plans based on the results in each region.
“InPACTO helped us develop this new tool which maps the supply chain situation in the Legal Amazon. The system is easy to understand and deploy, helping us quickly identify possibly critical regions and rank cattle suppliers based on potential risk”, said Nappo.
Hotspot Mapping underlines JBS’ commitment to the issue. JBS has been a signatory of the National Pact to Eradicate Slave Labor since 2007 and was Brazil’s first food industry company to become a member of InPACTO back in 2014. The Company also partners with the institute to support with innovative efforts to detect and eradicate slave labor in Brazil.
“This partnership between JBS and InPACTO is strategically very important. Together, we have advanced several agendas and projects intended to build a more responsible production chain. We are very happy to celebrate the institute’s 5th anniversary alongside so many other partners who are all working towards a common goal”, he said.
Mércia Silva, executive director at InPACTO, said JBS is addressing the challenge of eradicating slave labor across its production chain by putting the issue on the company’s management and compliance agendas.
“JBS is a major InPACTO partner and is helping us raise awareness of the issue in Brazil. We are optimistic about the way this joint effort is developing, particularly the efforts to share these experiences and practices with other industries”, said Mércia.
In addition to Márcio Nappo, other roundtable participants included Caio Magri, CEO of the Ethos Institute; Ana Yara, InPACTO board member; and Guiliana Ortega, executive director at the C&A Institute. Túlio Dias, president of InPACTO, was the panel moderator.
The second roundtable discussion held during the seminar discussed “Future challenges and opportunities + 5 years” with representatives from the Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights; the Office of the Labor Prosecutor; the British Embassy and the Liechtenstein Initiative. Mércia Silva, executive director at InPACTO, acted as moderator.
About JBS
JBS is one of the world’s leading food industry companies with approximately 230 thousand employees in 15 countries. The Company owns a portfolio of brands that are acknowledged for their excellence and innovation, including Friboi, Moy Park, Pilgrim’s Pride, Primo, Seara, Swift, Gold’n Plump and others, serving over 275,000 customers of more than 150 nationalities worldwide. The company’s focus on innovation also reflects its management approach to related businesses in areas such as leather, biodiesel, collagen, personal hygiene and cleaning products, natural wrappings, solid waste management solutions, metal packaging and transportation. JBS has adopted best sustainability practices throughout its value chain and constantly monitors its suppliers using satellite imagery, georeferenced maps of supplier farms and monitors official data from government agencies; the company also focuses on the highest possible food safety and quality standards. The success of JBS’s operations is closely tied to our Animal welfare practices, which are rigorously applied and have received an increasing share of investments to further improve the Company’s efforts in this area, in line with best practices.
JBS
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