Andrew Forrest takes aim at Huon bidder JBS over animal processing

Andrew Forrest is set to up the ante on Brazilian meat processor JBS, which has launched a $550m bid for Tasmanian salmon producer Huon Aquaculture.

Andrew Forrest said FIRB needed to ‘send a really strong message to JBS’ that its current methods of animal killing were ‘not going to be tolerated in Australia’.

Fortescue Metals Group chairman Andrew Forrest is set to up the ante in his campaign against Brazilian meat processor JBS, which has launched a $550m bid for Tasmanian salmon producer Huon Aquaculture.

Dr Forrest has taken out a ­series of newspaper advertisements on Friday criticising JBS’s animal handling processes, calling on the company to adopt a “no pain no fear” approach to killing animals.

JBS, the biggest meat processor in Australia, has launched a bid for Huon, which is supported by Huon founders Peter and Frances Bender, who own 53 per cent of the company.

Dr Forrest’s family company, Tattarang, recently increase its stake in Huon from 7 per cent to 18.5 per cent. The stake was enough to block JBS’s initial proposal for a takeover by a scheme of arrangement.

But after Tattarang increased its stake, JBS made a parallel bid that has the potential to succeed without Tattarang’s support – provided it can get approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board.

Dr Forrest is using the bid to call on JBS to adopt more ­humane standards of animal killing globally.

JBS has rejected Dr Forrest’s accusations, saying it already adheres to high standards in its animal handling, rejecting earlier allegations against it made by Dr Forrest. But Dr Forrest’s newspaper advertisements will raise the temperature of the debate.

Andrew Forrest’s family company Tattarang recently increased its stake in Huon from 7 per cent to 18.5 per cent.

Dr Forrest on Thursday ­accused JBS of “putting profit over pain” in its animal processing businesses. He called on the company to adopt the “no fear, no pain” approach to killing livestock that is used by Tattarang’s beef processing company, Harvey Beef.

Dr Forrest said FIRB needed to “send a really strong message to JBS” that its current methods of animal killing were “not going to be tolerated in Australia”.

He said he had bought into Huon to help improve the environmental standards of salmon fishing in Tasmania.

But he said with the emergence of JBS as a bidder for the company, he was concerned at the company’s animal handling and environmental practices.

“I am committed to leading (the beef) industry in the right direction, towards ‘no pain, no fear’ as the minimum standard (of animal killing),” he said.

“But some in this industry haven’t even started the journey.

“My message to these massive protein producers is clear – stop the talk and show us your actions. Your animals deserve better and your customers expect more.

“I challenge JBS to join me on this journey.”

Originally published as Andrew Forrest takes aim at Huon bidder JBS over animal processing