Focused on Water Reduction

The JBS USA Fed Beef business unit has focused heavily on reducing the use of water in the production process. In total, the team has implemented or enhanced numerous major water recycling projects, including (but not limited too) a DAF (Dissolved Air Floatation) effluent recycle system, tripe water recycle systems, peracetic acid water recycle systems and equipment sterilizer recycle systems in all of our beef production facilities.

Implementation of these water reduction projects resulted in annual water savings of 258 million gallons across our beef production facilities and helped achieve a 16 percent reduction in water use intensity since 2015. In addition, these projects contributed to significant energy savings – an 11.9 and 7.9 percent reduction in natural gas and electricity use intensity since 2015. These savings in energy helped support a 19 percent reduction in greenhouse gas intensity since 2015.  

Like many great achievements, these projects require more than expert innovation and engineering from our operational and environmental teams. They also require buy-in and collaboration from the entire beef team, including food safety experts, USDA officials, business analysts, financial managers and champions on the ground. Most important, these piloted programs involved educating and training team members to change behaviors to support our culture of water conservation.