Brazilian police raided more than a dozen meatpacking offices on Friday. The raids follow a two-year investigation into alleged bribery of regulators to subvert inspections of the meatpacking plants. Included in the probe, known as “Operation Weak Flesh, were industry giants, such as JBS SA, the world’s largest poultry exporter, and BRF SA, the world’s number one meatpacker.
Telephone recordings by federal police found that pigs’ heads were crushed and mixed into sausages, cardboard was mixed with chicken meat, and chemicals were injected into meat to hide the smell of rot. Authorities also found that companies were injecting water into their meat to increase its market weight.
Police noted about 40 cases of meatpackers bribing inspectors and politicians to overlook unsanitary conditions, including rotten-meat processing and salmonella taint. They also found evidence that some companies had manipulated certificates for export to countries such as Spain and Italy and sold the meat for school meals. Twenty public officials, three BRF employees, and two JBS employees have been arrested.
This is by far one of the biggest scandals ever to hit the meat industry. It also points to a culture of corruption. But it’s the animals who are made to pay the ultimate price. Not only are they all violently slaughtered; the vast majority of them also suffer their entire lives in filthy and cruel factory farms.
Vow to pull your support of an industry that not only deceives consumers and puts them at risk, but also tortures animals. Visit ChooseVeg.com and learn how you can transition to a healthy and humane vegan diet.
