JBS clearly states in Brazilian Portuguese on its website: “100% da mossa abolida até 2027,” which translates to “100% of ear cropping will be abolished by 2027.”
[...]
Sinergia’s Brazilian team, which is native in Portuguese but not English, made a minor mistake in the spreadsheet shared with ACE. It stated “Committed to banning ear notching by 2023,” when it should have said “Committed to banning ear notching in 2023.” Sinergia acknowledges that this mistake shifts the meaning of the sentence and it has since been corrected.
Although Sinergia downplays this as a “minor mistake,” it results in Sinergia receiving credit for helping millions of JBS’s pigs who were not impacted (i.e. JBS pigs who have their ears notched from 2023 to 2026)..[1] This is not a “minor mistake.” Further, Sinergia claims that this mistake has been corrected, but all that was fixed was changing the phrase “by 2023” to “in 2023” in Cell K10.[2]The impact calculations were not fixed, and still incorrectly credit Sinergia for helping millions of JBS’s pigs who were not impacted.[1]
Sinergia/ACE (meaning Sinergia or ACE) also deleted evidence that suggests this was not a mistake/translation issue. Sinergia’s original spreadsheet contained a cell that included the following statement: “JBS published in 2023 the commitment to banning ear notching by 2023.” This was in Cell W10, but it was deleted right before Sinergia responded.[3]
If this was a mistake/translation issue, why did Sinergia know how to use “by” and “in” in Cell W10, but not in the Cell with the alleged mistake? Additionally, why did Sinergia/ACE delete Cell W10 right before you published your response, and not make any note stating Cell W10 was deleted? Column W is the only part of the spreadsheet that has been deleted, and all other changes in the spreadsheet have been explicitly noted in the spreadsheet.
Note: Cell R10 of the spreadsheet further suggests this was not a mistake/translation issue, as it states the “Transition deadline” for the JBS’s alleged ear notching commitment is 2023.
Sinergia/ACE deleted Column W (which contained Cell W10) shortly before Sinergia published their response. We know that Column W had notbeen deleted as of 3/15/2025, as we took a screen recording of the spreadsheet on that date (skip to 1:39, notice Column W has not been deleted yet). We know that Column W had been deleted as of 3/20/2025 (the day before Sinergia published their response) since we downloaded the spreadsheet on that date. We also have a recording of Sinergia’s spreadsheet from 3/21/2025 where Column W has been deleted. Sinergia published their response on 3/21/2025.
“JBS published in 2023 the commitment to banning ear notching by 2023” is a really clunky way of saying two things about the same year (ie I’d expect “by the end of the year” or something, instead of “by 2023”), how sure are you the 2nd 2023 couldn’t be a typo?
Why did Sinergia not catch this “mistake” when validating ACE’s calculations? In their response, Sinergia claims they validated ACE’s calculations.
Why is Sinergia now indicating this “mistake” has been fixed, when it has not?
And most importantly, why did Sinergia/ACE delete Column W, where Sinergia stated that “JBS published in 2023 the commitment to banning ear notching by 2023” right before publishing their response, and not add any note stating that this cell had been deleted?[2]Sinergia/ACE added notes for every other edit that was made to Sinergia’s spreadsheet after February 20th, 2025, and this was by far the biggest edit (Column W contained more text than any other column in the spreadsheet, and was completely deleted).
We believe these pervasive issues point towards this not being the typo you suggest.
Finally, we’d like to clarify what we think the biggest issue is here. Sinergia’s response states:
“Sinergia’s Brazilian team, which is native in Portuguese but not English, made a minor mistake in the spreadsheet shared with ACE. It stated “Committed to banning ear notching by 2023,” when it should have said “Committed to banning ear notching in 2023.””
Right before Sinergia published their response,Sinergia/ACE deleted Column W from their spreadsheet, in which Sinergia claimed: “JBS published in 2023 the commitment to banning ear notching by 2023.”[2] This evidence that was deleted suggests that Sinergia’s “mistake” was not a translation issue like they indicate.
It is completely inappropriate for Sinergia/ACE to delete this evidence right before Sinergia published their response, and not note that this evidence was deleted. Sinergia/ACE added notes for every other edit that was made to Sinergia’s spreadsheetafter February 20th, 2025, and this was by far the biggest edit (Column W contained more text than any other column in the spreadsheet, and was completely deleted).
Destruction of evidence is completely inexcusable.
Sinergia/ACE deleted Column W (which contained Cell W10) shortly before Sinergia published their response. We know that Column W had notbeen deleted as of 3/15/2025, as we took a screen recording of the spreadsheet on that date (skip to 1:39, notice Column W has not been deleted yet). We know that Column W had been deleted as of 3/20/2025 (the day before Sinergia published their response) since we downloaded the spreadsheet on that date. We also have a recording of Sinergia’s spreadsheet from 3/21/2025 where Column W has been deleted. Sinergia published their response on 3/21/2025.
Although Sinergia downplays this as a “minor mistake,” it results in Sinergia receiving credit for helping millions of JBS’s pigs who were not impacted (i.e. JBS pigs who have their ears notched from 2023 to 2026)..[1] This is not a “minor mistake.” Further, Sinergia claims that this mistake has been corrected, but all that was fixed was changing the phrase “by 2023” to “in 2023” in Cell K10.[2] The impact calculations were not fixed, and still incorrectly credit Sinergia for helping millions of JBS’s pigs who were not impacted.[1]
Sinergia/ACE (meaning Sinergia or ACE) also deleted evidence that suggests this was not a mistake/translation issue. Sinergia’s original spreadsheet contained a cell that included the following statement: “JBS published in 2023 the commitment to banning ear notching by 2023.” This was in Cell W10, but it was deleted right before Sinergia responded. [3]
If this was a mistake/translation issue, why did Sinergia know how to use “by” and “in” in Cell W10, but not in the Cell with the alleged mistake? Additionally, why did Sinergia/ACE delete Cell W10 right before you published your response, and not make any note stating Cell W10 was deleted? Column W is the only part of the spreadsheet that has been deleted, and all other changes in the spreadsheet have been explicitly noted in the spreadsheet.
Note: Cell R10 of the spreadsheet further suggests this was not a mistake/translation issue, as it states the “Transition deadline” for the JBS’s alleged ear notching commitment is 2023.
Pig Welfare Commitments Sinergia Allegedly Secured in 2023 - See Cells R10 Through Y10
Pig Welfare Commitments Sinergia Allegedly Secured in 2023 - See Row 10
Sinergia/ACE deleted Column W (which contained Cell W10) shortly before Sinergia published their response. We know that Column W had not been deleted as of 3/15/2025, as we took a screen recording of the spreadsheet on that date (skip to 1:39, notice Column W has not been deleted yet). We know that Column W had been deleted as of 3/20/2025 (the day before Sinergia published their response) since we downloaded the spreadsheet on that date. We also have a recording of Sinergia’s spreadsheet from 3/21/2025 where Column W has been deleted. Sinergia published their response on 3/21/2025.
“JBS published in 2023 the commitment to banning ear notching by 2023” is a really clunky way of saying two things about the same year (ie I’d expect “by the end of the year” or something, instead of “by 2023”), how sure are you the 2nd 2023 couldn’t be a typo?
Hi Rebecca, thank you for your reply.
If this was a “typo” as you suggest:
Why did Sinergia say the “Transition deadline” for JBS’s alleged ear notching commitment is 2023 in Cell R10?
Why did Sinergia say JBS “Committed to banning ear notching by 2023” in Cell K10?
Why did Sinergia take credit for helping millions of JBS’s pigs that they did not (i.e. JBS pigs who have their ears notched from 2023 to 2026)? [1]
Why did ACE not catch this “mistake” when making their calculations and evaluating Sinergia’s work?
Why did Sinergia not catch this “mistake” when validating ACE’s calculations? In their response, Sinergia claims they validated ACE’s calculations.
Why is Sinergia now indicating this “mistake” has been fixed, when it has not?
And most importantly, why did Sinergia/ACE delete Column W, where Sinergia stated that “JBS published in 2023 the commitment to banning ear notching by 2023” right before publishing their response, and not add any note stating that this cell had been deleted?[2] Sinergia/ACE added notes for every other edit that was made to Sinergia’s spreadsheet after February 20th, 2025, and this was by far the biggest edit (Column W contained more text than any other column in the spreadsheet, and was completely deleted).
We believe these pervasive issues point towards this not being the typo you suggest.
Finally, we’d like to clarify what we think the biggest issue is here. Sinergia’s response states:
“Sinergia’s Brazilian team, which is native in Portuguese but not English, made a minor mistake in the spreadsheet shared with ACE. It stated “Committed to banning ear notching by 2023,” when it should have said “Committed to banning ear notching in 2023.””
Right before Sinergia published their response, Sinergia/ACE deleted Column W from their spreadsheet, in which Sinergia claimed: “JBS published in 2023 the commitment to banning ear notching by 2023.”[2] This evidence that was deleted suggests that Sinergia’s “mistake” was not a translation issue like they indicate.
It is completely inappropriate for Sinergia/ACE to delete this evidence right before Sinergia published their response, and not note that this evidence was deleted. Sinergia/ACE added notes for every other edit that was made to Sinergia’s spreadsheet after February 20th, 2025, and this was by far the biggest edit (Column W contained more text than any other column in the spreadsheet, and was completely deleted).
Destruction of evidence is completely inexcusable.
Pig Welfare Commitments Sinergia Allegedly Secured in 2023 - See Cells R10 Through Y10
Sinergia/ACE deleted Column W (which contained Cell W10) shortly before Sinergia published their response. We know that Column W had not been deleted as of 3/15/2025, as we took a screen recording of the spreadsheet on that date (skip to 1:39, notice Column W has not been deleted yet). We know that Column W had been deleted as of 3/20/2025 (the day before Sinergia published their response) since we downloaded the spreadsheet on that date. We also have a recording of Sinergia’s spreadsheet from 3/21/2025 where Column W has been deleted. Sinergia published their response on 3/21/2025.