British supermarkets are selling corned beef from a company accused of involvement in illegal deforestation in the Amazon, according to environmental investigators.

Morrisons, Waitrose, Iceland, Lidl and the Co-Op all buy Brazilian corned beef sourced from JBS, a meat company that has reportedly sourced cattle from farms contributing to destruction of the world’s largest rainforest.

Environmental organisation Friends of the Earth said it made the apparent link by tracing the supply chains of tinned corned beef sold in British supermarkets under their own labels or other meat brands’.

At the same time, research group Earthsight said it found Sainsbury’s and Asda, as well as Morrisons and Lidl, still stocked JBS products.

Brazil has the greatest diversity of animal and plant species worldwide but has lost more forests than any other country since 2001 – 1.3 million hectares last year alone, more than double the loss in its nearest rival, Indonesia – according to the World Resources Institute.

Brazilian tribal lands under new threat Show all 20 1 /20 Brazilian tribal lands under new threat Brazilian tribal lands under new threat Indigenous Macuxi children play at the community of Maturuca on the Raposa Serra do Sol reservation, Roraima state, Brazil Photos Reuters Brazilian tribal lands under new threat The Macuxi fear the return of farmers, illegal gold miners and poachers, all of whom are emboldened by President Jair Bolsonaro’s rhetoric and his moves to weaken their rights Reuters Brazilian tribal lands under new threat A child from an indigenous tribe eats a watermelon Reuters Brazilian tribal lands under new threat Children play in Uailan river in Romaira state Reuters Brazilian tribal lands under new threat Chief Aldenir Lima, the leader of the 70 communities on the Raposa Serra do Sol reservation next to a monument honouring the tribes and their struggle to secure land rights Reuters Brazilian tribal lands under new threat Sideneia Francisco de Lima, 15, looks out of her house on the reservation Reuters Brazilian tribal lands under new threat Indigenous Macuxi children dance in a ceremony for indigenous leaders Reuters Brazilian tribal lands under new threat Macuxi people play football on the reservation Reuters Brazilian tribal lands under new threat ‘I want to ask the new president Jair Bolsonaro to respect indigenous people and our constitutional rights,’ says community leader Tereza Pereira de Souza, her hair crowned with a headdress of yellow feathers. ‘It took us 30 years to get our land borders legally recognised and registered’ Reuters Brazilian tribal lands under new threat The night sky above the reservation. Brazil’s 900,000 indigenous people make up less than 1 per cent of the population and live on reservations that account for 13 per cent of the territory Reuters Brazilian tribal lands under new threat Macuxi leader Orlando Pereirana da Silva, 73, weighs cattle meat at the community of Uailan Reuters Brazilian tribal lands under new threat A Macuxi cowboy stands on a rock Reuters Brazilian tribal lands under new threat Bolsonaro says they live in abject poverty and hunger and should be assimilated instead of being confined to reservations like ‘zoo animals’ Reuters Brazilian tribal lands under new threat Any attempt to change the reservation’s legal status would likely be opposed by the Supreme Court on the grounds that Brazil’s 1988 Constitution protects indigenous land rights Reuters Brazilian tribal lands under new threat A teacher writes on a board at an indigenous cultural centre Reuters Brazilian tribal lands under new threat Anthropologists warn that removing protections would destroy the traditions and languages of the Macuxi and four other related tribes on the reservation Reuters Brazilian tribal lands under new threat ‘Nature is our life, our blood and our spirit, because it gives us sustenance,’ says Martinho de Souza, a Macuxi shaman. ‘We were born on this land, we live here and we will die here.’ Reuters Brazilian tribal lands under new threat Nearby, in the shaman’s village of Tamanduá, chickens run about. The village is named after a type of anteater, a large mammal in danger of extinction Reuters Brazilian tribal lands under new threat A Macuxi woman takes a shower Reuters Brazilian tribal lands under new threat Macuxi leader Tuchaua Gilmario Pereira in a blue feather headdress Reuters

The Amazon is also critical in helping mitigate climate change by absorbing large amounts of carbon emissions but about a fifth of it has already been cut down.

Nearly 80 per cent of deforested areas in Brazil are now used for crops to feed cattle, according to Greenpeace.

And Brazil’s new president Jair Bolsonaro has heightened fears for the Amazon’s future by loosening environmental protections.

In 2017, Britain was the ninth-largest importer of Brazilian beef globally, buying 57,000 tonnes, and JBS was responsible for nearly a third, according to Trase, a supply chain tool.

By cross-referencing product codes with documents and supply chains, FoE says it traced corned beef to JBS slaughterhouses in Brazil.

Morrisons, Lidl and the Co-Op sell own-brand products by JBS. Waitrose and Iceland sold corned beef by Princes with beef produced by JBS, the group claims.

Danny Gross, of Friends of the Earth, said the claims were “deeply worrying in the face of the climate and biodiversity crisis the world is facing”.

“As more and more of the Amazon is destroyed, we will be left with a planet unable to remove climate-wrecking emissions from the atmosphere.”

A report last month by non-profit organisation Amazon Watch alleged that two farms fined repeatedly for illegal deforestation have sold cattle to JBS.

JBS also failed to address the problem of “cattle laundering”, whereby farms with illegal deforestation transfer cows to legal farms, it is also claimed. An auditor’s report commissioned by JBS in October said: “In the case of indirect suppliers, JBS has not yet been successful in implementing traceability processes.”

An Iceland spokesman said: “Princes is confident that it does not source any product from sites that have been called into question by the investigation, and that any issues Friends of the Earth has identified are historical and have already been addressed by JBS.”

Iceland also sources own-label products containing corned beef via two other companies from JBS but that the sources are “geographically separated from the Amazon biome area, ensuring that no beef from the Amazon is used in their products”.

Morrisons, Lidl and Sainsbury did not respond to requests to comment but the British Retail Consortium, which gave a statement on behalf of them as well as Asda and the Co-op, said: “The BRC and our members regard any form of labour abuse and illegal deforestation to be completely unacceptable. All suppliers are expected to be compliant with local laws and retailers’ high standards.

“Retailers underpin this with codes of conduct agreed with suppliers, robust auditing, training for staff and collaborative schemes.

“While it is recognised that Brazil has significant challenges, the country has led efforts to tackle modern slavery through laws and enforcement. However, recent legislative developments may be putting that progress at risk and this example demonstrates how vital it is for effective laws and enforcement to protect people and the environment from exploitation.

“We urge the Brazilian government to take swift and concrete action to address this issue.”

JBS denied it acquires animals from farms involved with deforestation.

“The company has a responsible sourcing policy that establishes strict social and environmental criteria for supplier selection,” a statement said.

“To ensure the raw materials are sourced responsibly, the company has developed a system to monitor and verify the farm conditions of company suppliers. The system employs satellite imagery, geo-referenced farm data and information from government agencies to support our daily analysis of over 80,000 cattle suppliers in Brazil.”

Princes corned beef from Brazil (Friends of the Earth)

It said farms are monitored individually and checked against government embargoed areas and any non-compliant farm was immediately blocked.

Independent audits showed that in the past three years over 99.9 per cent of JBS cattle purchases complied with the company’s social and environmental criteria, the company said.

Asda referred to a statement by Princes, which said: “Princes does not source any products from the sites called into question as part of the Earthsight investigation, and these issues are historical. As a responsible business we investigated these allegations and are satisfied that purchases of cattle were from suppliers that did not appear on the Brazilian government list of deforested areas.

“There is no possibility of any beef reared on deforested land or associated with slave labour being used in any products supplied by Princes.”