By Townsville Bureau
Australia’s largest meat packer and livestock buyer of slaughter cattle is Brazilian company JBS Swift which has systematically dismantled smaller meat packing operations in the United States and Australia by sheer market dominance with help from political patronage.
JBS controls liveweight cattle prices in northern Australia and has a stranglehold on the supply network of red meat and much of the smallgoods market.
How is it JBS pays an average of $3.20 per kg liveweight for trade steers at saleyards yet butchers are charging $35 or more per kg for rump steak? Whilst recognising a carcase is not comprised of all rump cuts, the retail cost reflects a huge margin for the meat packer and a lesser percentage for the retail butcher.
A large proportion of beef at any retail butcher shop would be supplied by JBS.
It nearest competitor is worldwide food giant Cargill and between them manipulate prices and politicians to ensure there is no competition that could affect their cartel.
The latest addition to meat contamination is Bovaer supposedly to reduce methane emissions, which JBS feeds to cattle in their Australian feedlots before cattle are slaughtered .
Bovaer is also used in feedstock for dairies so there is potential for this unnecessary and probably dangerous additive to find its way into milk supplied to retail outlets, namely Woolies and Coles.
Nearly all stock bought by JBS at saleyards or by private treaty are sent to their massive feedlots for finishing which in itself is a necessary, value-adding, sound business practice and makes beef more edible for consumers.
While there is no regulatory requirement, the bogeyman in the meat industry is the additive Bovaer to feedstocks at feedlots stemming from the greenhouse gas madness infecting government and private bureaucracies and has its origins with the climate cultists of Labor and Greens. It has been in use for less than two years in Australia.
Despite assurances from Meat and Livestock Australia that Bovaer is safe for humans, Denmark farmers offer a different opinion. MLA also guarantee mRNA cattle vaccines are safe for humans.
https://carnivorebar.com/blogs/meaty-memes/the-dark-side-of-bovaer-are-cows-and-humans-at-risk?
Something strange is happening in Denmark. Farmers are reporting their cows are falling ill—and refusing to eat their feed. But this isn’t just any feed. It contains Bovaer, a new synthetic additive designed to reduce methane emissions by disrupting the digestive system of cattle. That’s right—Bovaer works by muting one of nature’s most miraculous systems: the ruminant gut microbiome. Why? Because cows burp and fart.
The push to eliminate cow burps in the name of climate change has reached bizarre new heights. But here’s the reality—Bovaer doesn’t just affect the cow. It may be messing with everything from the gut microbiome of ruminants to the microbial balance of the soil… and eventually, us. Want to ensure you’re not eating meat from animals fed synthetic junk like Bovaer? Get to know your farmer. Support regenerative farmers who value real food and nature’s design. Because saying cows eating grass are bad for the planet is like saying fish are bad for the ocean.
Yep. That’s the claim. Bovaer is a lab-created chemical additive developed by the Dutch company DSM, designed to suppress methane emissions from ruminants by altering the fermentation process in their digestive tracts. Translation: it reduces cow burps and farts by disrupting microbial activity in the rumen. It sounds like a punchline—but it’s being taken very seriously in the regulatory world.
Problem is, methane is a natural byproduct of digestion in animals with four stomachs for a reason. Mess with that, and you mess with digestion, immune function, nutrient assimilation, and overall animal health. The idea that we can hijack this system without long-term consequences? That’s the real gas.
Bovaer was approved by the European Commission in early 2022, and it’s now making its way into UK farms, too. In the U.S., Bovaer began appearing in dairy and beef operations under pilot programs. While full FDA approval is still pending, the quiet rollout is already happening in select feedlots. So the cow you ate last night? It might have had a little synthetic microbiome-suppressing powder sprinkled into its feed ration.
This slow introduction, paired with lack of transparency on food labels, should raise red flags. There’s little-to-no public discourse about it. Just like with so many “innovations,” it’s happening first behind closed doors—then gets marketed as the next savior of the planet.
When you hear that Bovaer is “safe and effective,” you might want to take a pause. That phrase has become a corporate smokescreen—used to market glyphosate, fluoride, red dye 40, BPA, GMOs, aspartame, sucralose… the list goes on. These additives were once waved through by regulatory agencies despite limited long-term research. Only years later did the real effects emerge—endocrine disruption, neurological issues, cancer risks, reproductive harm.
So when Bovaer gets stamped with that all-too-familiar label, we should be asking questions. Especially since the long-term safety studies—on both animals and humans consuming those animals—are virtually nonexistent.
In response to resistance by consumers to Bovaer, the good news for Far Northern consumers is that Rocky Creek Abattoirs near Atherton does not supply grass fed or feedlot beef infected with Bovaer and is long renowned for its quality meat and smallgoods.
Cairns News sent a questionnaire to JBS Swift Brisbane about its use of Bovaer but the company refused to comment.
