14 DAY TRIAL // A cyberattack has brought Australia's largest meat and food processing industry to a standstill, raising fears about supplies to domestic and international markets.
According to The Sydney Morning Herald, the attack affected JBS Foods facilities in Australia as well as in the United States, Canada, and other nations. JBS-owned Primo Foods is Australia's largest producer of ham, bacon, salami, and sausages, and operates meat plants and beef fattening facilities.
Cattle and lamb production was halted Monday at all JBS meat plants in Australia after an attack on the company's information systems over the weekend. Farmers and grocers are uncertain how long JBS will be down, and thousands of meat workers are worried about losing their jobs.
The CEO of JBS Australia Brent Eastwood confirmed the cyberattack on the industry website Beef Central, and the company is currently working to restore its systems. He could not say how long abattoirs and other facilities would be closed. The company warned that it would not be able to function without access to IT and Internet infrastructure.
JBS has 47 sites across Australia and is a major supplier to the retail sector. Last year, the company employed over 11,000 people across Australian and exported merchandise estimated at $4 billion.
Workers at JBS Foods are affected as the plant shut down
The shutdown would result in thousands of members going without pay, according to Matt Journeaux, Queensland secretary of the Australian Meat Industry Employees' Union.
Mr. Journeaux said, “The meat in the sandwich is that this is a concerted effort against Australian business and the workers will suffer as a result of that”.
“In most processing facilities the workers are on daily hire arrangements and unfortunately if they don’t work, they don’t get paid”.
The federal government was informed of the attack and is said to have provided assistance to JBS. Agriculture Minister David Littleproud confirmed that he was aware of allegations of the attack on meatworks plants.