Greenpeace Mexico has openly questioned an environmental award accepted by a pork processing conglomerate in Yucatan.
The Yucatecan Entrepreneurship Foundation (Feyac) recognized Grupo Porcícola Mexicana — also known as Kekén — as a “socially responsible” company. But Greenpeace denounced the company for being at odds with Mayan communities whose sacred lands gave way to their environmentally dubious pig farms.
In its blog, the organization shared its own report, “The meat that is consuming the planet,” which links Kekén to multiple environmental grievances.
Three of its pork processing plants are located in protected natural areas and 12 are on conservation soil as designated by the Territorial Ecological Organization of the Yucatan Peninsula, Greenpeace said.
Their presence has triggered discontent in Maya communities near the Kekén pig farms, mainly because they were not consulted before building the plants. Their construction violates the right to prior, free and informed consultation and the locals’ right to self-determination mandated by the International Labor Organization.
The right to health and a healthy environment are also violated, said Greenpeace.
“Failure to comply with these essential minimum requirements is the opposite of being a socially responsible company and is in complete contrast to the badge that was attributed to the company by Feyac,” Greenpeace Mexico stated.
Kekén stated that it complies with the highest sustainability and social responsibility measures at all stages of production and distribution.
But Greenpeace received no reply after requesting Kekén’s own records on wastewater discharge and its effect on groundwater safety and the integrity of Yucatan’s cenotes.
