Minerva Foods

Minerva Foods is a Brazilian food company founded in 1924 in the city of Barretos, São Paulo.

The company is specializes in the trading of fresh beef, leather, derivatives, and the export of live cattle, as well as meat processing.

It is the second-largest beef company in Brazil and Uruguay and the largest beef exporter in Paraguay, Colombia, and Argentina. It sells its products in over 100 countries.

Minerva operates 26 slaughter and deboning plants (11 in Brazil, 3 in Paraguay, 2 in Uruguay, 1 in Colombia, and 5 in Argentina) and 3 processing plants, with a daily capacity to slaughter and debone approximately 54,000 heads of cattle.

History
In 1924, the "Charqueada Minerva" was founded in Barretos, São Paulo, by Antonio de Pádua Diniz. Diniz died the following year. In 1926, just two years after its founding, the company encountered financial problems and was put up for auction. It was subsequently acquired by Antonio Manço Bernardes in partnership with Américo Grilli.

In 1949, after a reform that expanded the slaughter capacity to 300 heads per day, the company was named "Matadouro Industrial Minerva" (Minerva Industrial Slaughterhouse).

In 1971, the company was renamed "Frigorífico Minerva" (Minerva Slaughterhouse).

During the 1980s, the company faced financial difficulties and went bankrupt. In 1992, the bankrupt estate of Frigorífico Minerva was acquired by the Vilela de Queiroz family, well known in the livestock transportation sector, establishing the Indústria e Comércio de Carnes Minerva Ltda.

In 1999, Minerva leased and acquired a slaughtering and processing unit in José Bonifácio, São Paulo. In 2001, it leased another slaughtering and processing unit in Cajamar, São Paulo.

In 2004, the company built and inaugurated a new and modern slaughter and processing unit in Palmeiras de Goiás, Goiás. In 2006, Minerva leased a slaughter and processing unit in Batayporã, Mato Grosso do Sul.

In 2007, Minerva began construction in Barretos, São Paulo, of an industrial unit for producing cooked and frozen meat in a joint venture with the Irish company Dawn Farms. That same year, it started the construction of a new unit in Rolim de Moura, Rondônia, and acquired industrial units in Araguaína, Tocantins, and Redenção, Pará.

In 2008, it acquired the Lord Meat slaughterhouse in Goianésia, Goiás, for approximately R$60 million.

In 2009, the production plant for cooked and frozen meat was opened, establishing the first Minerva Dawn Farms unit, a joint venture between Minerva and Dawn Farms Foods. The 15,400-square-meter factory can produce up to 15 tons of processed meat per hour. The factory was built next to the headquarters of Frigorífico Minerva in Barretos, São Paulo.

Accusation of Purchasing Cattle from Deforested Areas
According to NGOs such as Greenpeace and Global Witness, Minerva Foods and other Brazilian meatpacking companies reportedly maintained a scheme throughout the year 2021 to purchase cattle from farms owned by Chaules Volban Pozzebon, the leader of a criminal organization involved in land invasion and extortion, known as the 'largest deforester in Brazil'. Minerva is accused of having bought at least 672 animals from farms implicated in environmental crimes.

In a statement, Minerva Foods stated that they conducted a detailed assessment of each of the 16 mentioned farms and found no alleged violations as claimed by the NGOs. According to the company, three of the mentioned farms were not registered in the company's database, and the remaining 13 fully complied with the sustainability criteria.