Comments
First, I want to commend Vetted Causes for doing this. The EA community loves criticism as a concept but rarely likes it when it comes to the object level. This is quite the object level critique and we see how our soldier mindset quickly arose. I'm hesitant to give any pushback on this since I want the cost to doing this work (which is quite hard) to be as low as possible. With that said, I want to
When it comes to Sinergia, I have quite the strong prior that they would be effective. Sinergia is what you would get if you took THL-style corporate campaigns, put them in the Global South where most of the animals on Earth live, in worse conditions than in the Global North, get way cheaper talent since salaries are lower and put in a kick-ass CEO in Carolina. This is kind of a recipe for an effective charity.
For Vetted Causes, I think your critiques would do better, be more productive for the community and frankly, be better received by the EA community if you would first get feedback from the organization that you are evaluating. You don't even need to change anything based on what they reply. I would recommend you use your judgement in evaluating what they have to say if it corrects any factual errors but the rights to the final wording of the post remain your own. This has three main advantages
- It corrects factual errors that might not be public
- It gives the organization a chance to give their perspective on things to the public
- The community wants this as a norm (for reasons 1&2 and you should want a strong reason to violate a norm) and so your critique will be better accepted if you do this. Again, you don't need to make any changes if the organizations response isn't convincing from your POV.
I again want to commend VettedCauses for doing these. They aren't easy. I'll pre-commit at least $1000 USD to VettedCauses for their next critique (provided it's a serious one) and they run it by the organization in question for feedback.
Sinergia's response:
As promised, Sinergia Animal shared this response with Vetted Causes 24 hours before publishing it here. Vetted Causes published this new post approximately 10 hours after we shared our response with them.
In summary, Sinergia is an organization that does not take credit for existing policies, non-existent commitments, or engage in misleading calculations to overestimate our impact. Many colleagues from the animal protection movement, as well as our own team, felt that the approach taken by Vetted Causes was intimidating and sensationalist, seemingly aimed at discrediting us.
We encourage readers to review this text in full to better understand our responses to Vetted Causes’ unfair and mistaken accusations.
Sinergia Animal has always strived to avoid exaggerations or misleading claims, ensuring that all our statements are based on careful analysis and honesty. While, like any organization, we may occasionally make mistakes, we have consistently been transparent and open to feedback from third parties—such as Animal Charity Evaluators, FarmKind, and various foundations that provide us with grants—who wish to review and provide candid evaluation of our achievements and the methods we use to estimate impact. It would not have been different with Vetted Causes if they had contacted us and revealed their identities, and a more detailed mission and ethical guidelines applying to their evaluations.
We sincerely hope that other charities do not have to face a similar situation. Like many others in our field, we have dedicated teams focused on running bold initiatives to win victories for animals. We are dealing with significant challenges, including the threat of legal action from powerful corporations, all while managing a range of internal priorities.
In this context, we do not think our movement, which is often thin in financial and time resources, needs public attacks from third parties claiming to be part of an altruistic community, particularly when those attacks are made anonymously, without prior communication or an opportunity to respond.
We respectfully invite Vetted Causes to reconsider their methodology, particularly by providing charities with the right of reply before publishing reviews. We also encourage them to improve the accuracy of their assessments by conducting primary research with country specialists if they don’t want to rely exclusively on information provided by the evaluated charities, rather than relying solely on secondary online sources and Google Translate for technical translations.
Additionally, we call for greater transparency by revealing the individuals involved in their evaluation work, including their nationality, language skills, and brief biographies.
Finally, we would like to express our deep gratitude to the members of the community who raised concerns about these issues before we had the chance to respond. For those who may have been concerned by the accusations, we kindly ask that in the future they avoid jumping to conclusions before hearing the perspective of the organization involved.
"Vetted Causes: Example: JBS (Seara)
JBS is a multinational meat processing company.[9] Sinergia claims credit for securing two pig welfare commitments from JBS, both relating to their Brazilian brand Seara.[10]
We will address each of these alleged commitments below.
Alleged Commitment 1
Sinergia claims that "JBS published in 2023 the commitment to banning ear notching by 2023."[11] As evidence for this claim, Sinergia provided a link to one of JBS's animal welfare pages.[12] However, the link does not state JBS committed to this. We also checked every archived version of the link and could not find this commitment.[13] Further, in 2024, JBS stated that they still use ear notching due to "Difficulty in finding alternatives that ensure process traceability."[14]
At one point, JBS had a tentative plan to stop ear notching by 2027, but it was later abandoned (currently, we are unsure if it has been reinstated).[14][15][16] This plan was the closest thing we could find to the commitment Sinergia alleges.
Although this commitment does not exist, Sinergia estimates that this commitment has helped 8,700,000 piglets per year since 2023, and claims 70% of the credit for helping these piglets.[17]"
Sinergia’s response:
Vetted Causes made an error in their analysis. JBS’ commitment to abolish ear cropping does exist. 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.” The term "mossa" refers to ear cropping in Brazilian Portuguese, and further explanations can be found on industry websites (1, 2). This commitment was also published in JBS’ 2022 Animal Welfare Report, published in October 2023 (page 33).
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.
We strongly urge anyone analyzing our work, or the work of any animal welfare NGO operating in a language they are not native in, to consult an animal welfare specialist from the relevant country for technical translations. This is especially important when accusations, such as “taking credit for non-existing commitments,” are made without offering the charity an opportunity to respond.
The reference used by Vetted Causes, claiming that JBS told another NGO this commitment had been “abandoned,” is also incorrect. The report cited by Vetted Causes states that while JBS had initially set a deadline of 2027, they later indicated that no firm deadline is set due to “difficulty in finding alternatives that ensure process traceability.” At no point does the report say JBS declared the commitment has been abandoned.
When Sinergia monitored the commitment in 2023, we could not have predicted JBS' 2024 declaration in this report. Moreover, officially, the commitment remains valid and unchanged on JBS’ website. Sinergia’s team in Brazil continues to work with JBS to ensure the commitment is upheld and implemented by 2027, despite JBS’ uncertainties about the deadline.
In summary: JBS’ commitment exists, as demonstrated above, and it was secured through numerous meetings between Sinergia and JBS, along with the pressure from the first edition of Pigs in Focus. Other NGOs have also engaged with JBS to secure this and other similar commitments.
Vetted Causes:
"Alleged Commitment 2
Sinergia claims that in 2023, JBS published a commitment to not use gestation crates in all
new projects, with a "Transition deadline" of 2023.[18]
As evidence for this claim, Sinergia provided a link to one of the JBS's animal welfare pages.[12] However, the gestation crate policy that the alleged commitment references was already listed on JBS's website in 2020, and has been in effect since that point.[19]
Thus, Sinergia is presenting a pre-existing company policy as a new commitment.
Sinergia claims that this alleged commitment has helped 290,000 sows (mother pigs) per year since 2023.[20] Further, Sinergia claims they deserve 70% of the credit for helping these sows.[21] However, Sinergia deserves no credit for helping these sows, since they are simply taking credit for ending a practice that had already ended."
Sinergia’s response:
Unfortunately, the issue here seems to stem from Vetted Causes drawing conclusions without consulting Brazilian specialists, including Sinergia or other NGOs working on this issue in Brazil.
The JBS webpage referenced by Vetted Causes states: "A Seara assumiu o compromisso de realizar a transição da gestação individual para gestação coletiva em 100% da produção de suínos até 2025… Novos projetos, ampliações e adequações já são construídos de acordo com esse padrão." In English: "Seara committed to transitioning from individual gestation housing to group housing in 100% of its production by 2025… New projects, expansions, and adaptations will adhere to this standard."
This group housing commitment was announced by JBS in 2015 (not 2020, as Vetted Causes claims). Sinergia’s founder, Carolina Galvani, and our entire team in Brazil are fully aware of this, as Carolina was directly involved in negotiating this commitment with JBS at the time (1, 2, 3). We would never claim credit for such an outdated commitment in 2023.
In Brazilian Portuguese, “gestação coletiva” means “group housing.” For Brazilian pig producers, including JBS, group housing usually means sows are kept in individual gestation crates for 28 to 42 days (35 days in JBS’ case) before transitioning to group housing.
Since 2018, Sinergia has been advocating for a better system, known as “cobre e solta” (pre-implantation system). In this system, sows are confined in gestation crates for no more than 7 days to confirm pregnancy, significantly reducing their suffering. This is a crucial improvement, as it limits their confinement to a much shorter period, compared to up to 42 days in the previous system.
In 2023, JBS made a new commitment, which Sinergia has clearly outlined. This commitment is the “cobre e solta” (pre-implantation) system, as stated on the JBS web page Sinergia provided to ACE. The page says: “O manejo ‘cobre e solta’ está inserido em todos os novos projetos,” meaning, “The pre-implantation system is integrated into all new projects.” This new commitment, finalized in 2023 after negotiations with Sinergia and other animal protection organizations, represents a real step forward.
Furthermore, JBS’s 2022 Animal Welfare Report, published in October 2023 (page 33), confirms this new commitment.
To clarify JBS’ progress: sows in existing units (under the 2015 policy) could be confined in gestation crates for up to 35 days (group housing). In newly built units, the maximum confinement is 7 days (pre-implantation system). While this is a step forward, Sinergia is not satisfied. We will continue advocating for all units, both new and existing, to adopt the pre-implantation system as the only true phase-out of gestation crates.
Regarding the impact of Sinergia's work:
Sinergia includes the total number of sows in JBS’s supply chain in our 2023 impact spreadsheet, rather than focusing solely on the new units under the 2023 policy. This is because our Pigs In Focus program enforces all of JBS’ previous commitments, with a particular focus on gestation crates, the practice causing the most prolonged suffering for pigs.
Our team in Brazil works directly with companies, warning them that weakening or deleting any commitments will result in losing points in our Pigs in Focus ranking and possibly trigger a public pressure campaign exposing broken promises.
We have used this approach effectively before. For example, when Aurora moved its group housing commitment deadline from 2026 to 2045, Sinergia launched a successful online campaign urging them to revert to the original 2026 deadline.
Sinergia is deeply committed to the implementation of these policies. We will continue pressuring major pig producers in Brazil with various tactics. We have already started asking some to undergo independent audits to verify the full implementation of their commitments by their deadlines. If necessary, we will escalate the issue using public pressure tactics.
Vetted Causes:
"Other Meat Processors
Sinergia claims they secured pig welfare commitments from six other meat processors in 2023.[22] However, all of these claims exhibit issues similar to the ones above.
For brevity, we've highlighted just one issue with Sinergia's claims for every other meat processor Sinergia allegedly secured a commitment from in 2023.
If there are ‘similar issues’ with six other commitments, please tell us what they are so we have the opportunity to check and provide explanations.
Practice Was Already Illegal Prior to Alleged Commitments
Sinergia claims credit for getting Alegra, Alibem, Master Agroindustrial, and Pif Paf Alimentos (all Brazilian meat processors) to end their use of teeth clipping on pigs.[23][40][41] However, teeth clipping pigs was already illegal in Brazil prior to the alleged commitments.[23][24][40][41]"
Sinergia’s Response:
Once again, we find that Vetted Causes' secondary research tools are insufficient for addressing the complexity of this issue. Primary research, such as consulting with country specialists, would have been a more appropriate approach.
While teeth clipping has been declared 'prohibited' in Brazil, it remains widely practiced in pig farming. Vetted Causes refers to a normative (an administrative act) in Brazil that states:
“Art. 38. The procedure for trimming (grinding) the teeth of piglets shall be performed only when there is significant injury to the mother’s mammary apparatus or the piglets’ faces.
§1º Under the circumstances described in the main article, only the final third of the tooth may be trimmed.
§2º The practice of teeth clipping is prohibited.
Art. 39. The trimming of boar tusks shall only be carried out:
I - when necessary;
II - by a trained professional;
III - with anesthesia and analgesia to manage pain."
Sinergia’s legal team has already analyzed this matter. The conclusion is that, without a formal law, companies can justify non-compliance by citing the normative’s lack of legal force. They can also argue that the absence of specific legislation on pig welfare allows them to disregard the normative.
However, since this normative is an administrative act, it can result in administrative sanctions within the body that issued it. Enforcement, though, requires a complaint or inspection, and even then, penalties are not guaranteed.
Furthermore, the oversight and enforcement of animal welfare regulations in Brazil's animal agriculture sector are notoriously weak, which makes it difficult to hold farms accountable for practices like teeth clipping.
Sinergia Animal urges the largest pig producing companies to commit to banning teeth clipping and only carry out teeth grinding (trimming) in exceptional circumstances. This is critical for ensuring effective policy implementation, as the practice remains prevalent in Brazilian pig farms despite the existence of an unenforced normative that can be contested and fail to produce real consequences for non-compliant farms.
By demonstrating transparency and securing commitments from major pig producers, we can hold a significant share of the industry accountable and push for the elimination of this practice, until a comprehensive governmental ban is enacted, with enforceable consequences.
Sinergia also noted that on its footnotes, Vetted Causes says: “Sinergia states that several companies committing to "banning teeth clipping/disbudding." Teeth clipping and disbudding are two separate procedures, but disbudding is not a practice that can be done on pigs. Disbudding refers to horn removal, and pigs do not have horns. We would also like to note that in the alternative that Sinergia meant "teeth disbudding," this is not a procedure that exists . Also, ACE interpreted what Sinergia said to be "disbudding" rather than "teeth disbudding" (see Cell AB12).”
Sinergia Animal would like to clarify that by 'teeth disbudding,' we meant 'teeth grinding' or 'teeth trimming,' a common practice in the Brazilian pig industry. We acknowledge that 'grinding' would have been a more accurate translation for an international audience. ACE was correct to consider this procedure, as it does exist.
Vetted Causes:
"Pre-Existing Policies Presented as New Commitments
Sinergia claims credit for getting Aurora to end their use of surgical castration on pigs, but the company's website already indicated they don't use the surgical castration on pigs prior to the alleged commitment.[25][26]"
Sinergia’s Reply:
The allegation presented above is incorrect.
In 2022, Aurora made the following statement regarding castration:
“Em relação à castração cirúrgica dos leitões, a Cooperativa preconiza a adoção da castração imunológica, promovendo maior conforto e menor estresse aos animais. Porém, quando não for possível, a prática deve ser realizada, por recomendação técnica, com uso de anestésico.”
Translation: “Regarding the surgical castration of piglets, the Aurora Cooperative recommends the adoption of immunological castration, providing greater comfort and less stress to the animals. However, when this is not possible, the practice should be carried out, according to technical recommendations, with the use of anesthetic.”
This was not considered a proper commitment by Sinergia Animal, as it was a recommendation and not a mandatory rule for all procedures. Additionally, it did not specify the use of analgesia (combined with anesthetic) during surgical castration.
In 2023, Aurora revised its position on its website, stating unequivocally that only immunocastration would be carried out, and eliminating the "recommendation" aspect. The revised statement reads:
“Surgical castration: Aurora Coop only uses immunocastration, as it is a less invasive practice for animals.”
Sinergia engaged in negotiations with the company to ensure this improvement. We now consider Aurora's 2023 statement a proper commitment to ending surgical castration.
Vetted Causes:
"Sinergia claims credit for getting BRF to end their use of gestation crates in new projects, but BRF had already implemented a policy requiring this prior to the alleged commitment.[27][28] In all of these cases, Sinergia is taking credit for ending a practice that had already ended."
Sinergia’s Reply:
Once again, Vetted Causes is making a poorly informed statement on this topic, similar to their comments regarding JBS. They are conflating two separate commitments from BRF, each addressing different systems: group housing and pre-implantation system.
In 2014, BRF committed to transitioning all of its units to group housing systems, which would eliminate the continuous use of gestation crates across all its units (not just new ones) by 2026. However, this commitment still allowed for sows to remain in gestation crates for up to 28 days. Sinergia is well aware of this commitment, as its founder was a key negotiator involved in securing it (1, 2, 3).
In 2023, BRF made a more substantial commitment, outlined on their website and in their 2023 Annual Report (page 66). This new commitment involves implementing the "cobre e solta" (pre-implantation) system in their new units, with immediate effect. As previously explained, this system represents an improvement for sow welfare, as it limits their time in gestation crates to just 7 days, compared to the previous 28 days.
It is unfair for an unknown third party to accuse Sinergia of ‘faking’ this new commitment. In reality, Sinergia's team faced significant challenges, including being sued by BRF, when we launched one of our boldest campaigns targeting the company, which called for the adoption of the pre-implantation system as one of its key demands (1, 2).
Sinergia will continue to work with BRF and other companies to encourage the adoption of pre-implantation systems across all their units, rather than allowing a mixed group housing system that still permits sows to be confined in gestation crates for 28-42 days.
Vetted Causes:
"Sinergia Claims That With $1 They can "Liberat[e]" 354 Piglets from "Brutal Confinement"
Animal Charity Evaluators (ACE) analyzed Sinergia's work, and wrote them an evaluation.[42] According to ACE's evaluation:
307.9 piglets affected per $1 is the "Lower bound" on the cost-effectiveness of Sinergia's work in 2023 to secure pig welfare commitments, with a "Best guess" of 354.1 piglets affected per $1. [29]
Based on this, Sinergia claims that with $1, they are capable of "Liberating [...] 354 piglets [...] from brutal confinement and painful procedures."[8]
This cost-effectiveness metric is inflated for several reasons, including:
Sinergia’s response:
We don’t make false claims, as explained above.
Vetted Causes:
"This metric is based on false claims provided by ACE. For example, ACE claims that teeth clipping pigs is legal in Brazil until 2030, even though it has been illegal since February 1, 2021 (years prior to when this metric was calculated).[24][30][40][41] This resulted in ACE giving Sinergia credit for helping millions of piglets in Brazil through teeth clipping commitments, even though teeth clipping was already illegal prior to the alleged commitments.[24][31][40][41]"
Sinergia’s response:
This issue has already been explained above.
Vetted Causes:
"Under this metric, a factory farmed piglet (male or female) is considered to have been "Liberat[ed …] from brutal confinement" if they are simply not surgically castrated. [43]"
This issue has already been explained above.
Vetted Causes:
"Surgical castration involves removing piglets’ testicles, which female piglets do not have.[32][33] In spite of this, ACE gave Sinergia credit for helping over 30 million female piglets through surgical castration commitments that Sinergia allegedly secured.[34]"
Sinergia’s response:
Sinergia reviewed the spreadsheet and there was only one commitment (Aurora) that involved only surgical castration and female pigs were accounted for by Sinergia’s team. Other commitments involving mutilations still account for females, as they involve teeth clipping and ear cropping, which are likely to be applied to female piglets too.
We have been informed by ACE that their estimations are still correct because AIM's SADs calculations already took into "prevalence" of castration (taking out female piglets) but the latter was stated incorrectly because they didn't include the same discount. ACE will provide more details about this topic when they share their response.
Vetted Causes:
"Although ACE contributed to inflating this metric, Sinergia remains responsible since their claims played a key role in inflating it. Additionally, Sinergia should have validated ACE's calculations before advertising this metric to donors.[8]"
Sinergia’s response:
Sinergia didn’t inflate anything. The accusation of not validating ACE’s calculations is wrong. We did review ACE’s calculations before they were released.
Vetted Causes:
"Below are several examples of Sinergia's advertisements.
Sinergia’s Response:
To clarify, the numbers highlighted in this post were accurate during the match funding campaign that we ran in Nov-Dec 2024. This is not an issue raised in this post, but we wanted to be sure we addressed the apparent discrepancy in case readers were confused.
“Pigs in Brazil live in horrible conditions, and it is inappropriate for Sinergia to make false claims about "Liberating" them.
a factory farmed piglet (male or female) is considered to have been "Liberat[ed …] from brutal confinement" if they are simply not surgically castrated.”
This claim relates to a line in our EA Forum post published in December 2024. The full sentence reads:
Every $1 you donate to Sinergia Animal impacts…[...]Liberating 21 mother pigs (or 354 piglets) from brutal confinement and painful procedures
We concede that this sentence could have been better worded. But, “Liberating mother pigs from brutal confinement” is a fair depiction of our work, much of which involves securing commitments to prevent the long-term confinement of sows in gestation crates.
”Liberating piglets from painful procedures” is also a fair description, given that our work also involves securing commitments to spare piglets from painful mutilations. The use of the word “liberate” here can be debated, given the extreme inherent cruelty of factory farming, but we stand by its use in this context. Sows are spared confinement through our work; piglets are spared from painful procedures.
This sentence could have been split in two; to make it clearer who was being liberated from what (mother pigs or piglets, from confinement or pain).
We are grateful this has been brought to our attention, and upon publishing this response, we will edit our EA Forum post to make this wording clearer to all. We do not believe we have repeated this wording in other places, but we will review our other fundraising materials to make sure.
At all times, we referred potential donors to our ACE review, which makes clear the distinction between our work on sows and piglets. We hope this has averted any potential confusion, but if not, then we hope that this response and our edits to the EA Forum post will correct the issue.
Instances where we correctly distinguish between our work on sows and piglets (and have done since the ACE review was published):
Our main donation page
Our 2024 annual report*
ACE’s “best guess” is that our campaigns could impact 53.5 hens per $1. In ACE’s cost-effectiveness summary, they initially quoted the figure of 54 hens per dollar, so we did too in order not to cause confusion. However, ACE has now edited this summary, and we have made the decision internally to under-estimate the figure. We now say that we impact 53 hens per $1.
Sinergia’s Additional Information on Our Pig Welfare Program Impact:
Sinergia would like to offer additional context regarding the impact of our pig welfare program, which was not adequately addressed in Vetted Causes' evaluation.
Rather than inflating our numbers, Sinergia chose not to provide estimates for three major commitments secured in 2023, despite ACE's request. These are:
While ACE requested estimations of animals impacted by these commitments, Sinergia refrained from providing these figures due to the absence of a reliable methodology for accurate calculations. This decision reflects our commitment to transparency and integrity, as we prioritize presenting data we can confidently support. We would rather leave some of our impact uncalculated than risk overstating it.
Additionally, we would like to address a comment regarding the number of piglets impacted by Pif Paf’s commitments. Our team made an error in reporting the number of piglets on the spreadsheet (22 piglets per sow instead of 30 piglets per sow, the correct number we used to estimate the impact) , which has now been corrected. We adopt the following formula to estimate the number of piglets impacted per year per commitment:
Applying this formula to Pif Paf’s case (34,090 sows) results in an estimated 1,022,700 piglets, as we stated. To the best of our knowledge, there is no mistake in this calculation when considering the methodology used.
The genetic potential of sows in Brazil today allows them to have 2 to 2.5 deliveries per year [1,2] and reach an average of 14.5 piglets per litter [1, 2] and 12.5 weaned piglets [1] [2]. To avoid exaggerations, our calculations were based on a conservative approach as we use the number of weaned piglets (which in Brazil usually occurs between 21 and 28 after birth) instead of piglets born alive. The mutilations that these animals undergo on farms generally occur in the first week of life, [1] that is, before weaning. In other words, the final number of piglets positively impacted by policies to end mutilations is possibly lower than the actual impact.
We also explored another method for calculating this figure and found a similar conclusion regarding the policies' positive impact on piglets' lives. For instance, let’s consider Pif Paf, which has 34,090 sows. By applying the formula mentioned above and using the average rate of deliveries per sow per year (2.2 deliveries per sow per year), along with the average number of piglets born alive per delivery (14 piglets), we estimate that 1,049,972 piglets would be spared from painful mutilations. This results in around 30.8 piglets per sow per year.
The total figure of around 30 piglets per sow per year that Sinergia works with is corroborated by academic research [1] conducted in Brazil which indicates that in well-managed Brazilian herds (such as those expected from suppliers of leading producers), sows typically deliver about 32.5 live-born piglets and 30.5 weaned piglets per sow per year.
Vetted Causes:
"Conclusion
Brazil is the world's 4th largest pork producer.[35] In 2023, they slaughtered 46.5 million pigs.[36] Sinergia estimates that the commitments they secured in 2023 alone help over 30 million piglets per year—all in Brazil, and claims they deserve 70% of the credit for helping these piglets.[37]
Pigs in Brazil live in horrible conditions, and it is inappropriate for Sinergia to make false claims about "Liberating" them.[4][8][38][39] Furthermore, Sinergia makes these claims to advertise their charity and encourage donations.[4][8]
Charities must be diligent when making claims about their effectiveness. Donors trust charities to report their achievements and impact accurately. Charities that seriously violate this trust should not be funded. Accordingly, we do not recommend donating to Sinergia."
Sinergia’s response:
Sinergia firmly believes that our efforts have been integral in securing these commitments, and we possess documented evidence to substantiate this.
Our fundraising team is highly skilled at crafting clear, impactful, and truthful messages to engage potential donors. It is important to emphasize that not all of these donors are part of the Effective Altruism (EA) community. While we have no immediate plans to alter our approach, we remain open to feedback and will address any relevant concerns brought to our attention by external parties.
We maintain a strong, transparent relationship with our donors, inviting them to participate in biannual calls with our Executive Director, where they are encouraged to ask any questions they deem important. Therefore, we respectfully reject the unfounded accusation that we have violated anyone’s trust.
Regarding the perception of Brazil as a 'low-trust' country, as some comments suggest, we would like to note that there are numerous dedicated and professional animal protection advocates operating here. Additionally, we believe it is important to share the credentials of our team responsible for pig welfare in Brazil. The combined experience of Sinergia’s Brazilian team exceeds 60 years of unwavering dedication to advancing farmed animal protection, as outlined in our documentation.
Finally, while we are not endorsed by Vetted Causes, we welcome this distinction, as we have significant concerns about their lack of transparency—particularly regarding their identity and motivations—and their approach to evaluations. Specifically, we question their failure to provide charities an opportunity to respond to critiques, as well as the adequacy of their research methods.
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.
Sinergia continues to be deeply concerned about Vetted Causes’ misrepresentation of our intentions. Rather than engaging in a fair and constructive dialogue, giving us the right to explain ourselves before accusations of falseness are published, Vetted Causes makes inflammatory statements, selectively presents information, omits key context, and unfairly implies bad faith on our part, something that violates the norms of this forum.
Selective Quoting and Misrepresentation
It's noteworthy that Vetted Causes chose to highlight a “small snippet” of our full response first, using an accusatory title to create a separate post rather than commenting and engaging with all involved in the previous discussion. This omission excludes the parts where we raise concerns about their mistakes and misinterpretations when accusing us of false claims and taking credit for non-existent or old commitments. We urge Vetted Causes to work with longer texts that can better inform readers by addressing all matters fairly, instead of selecting segments to produce new and short posts that accuse us of “false claims”. False usually carries the meaning of “not true, but made to seem true in order to deceive people”, and Sinergia strongly refutes this accusation.
The Alleged “False Claim”
Vetted Causes claimed that Sinergia falsely reported a JBS commitment to banning ear notching. Now that it has been well explained that this accusation of Vetted Causes was mistaken, Vetted Causes fails to acknowledge that they were responsible for unfair accusations of falseness towards Sinergia. Instead, Vetted Causes decides to release new accusations of bad faith against us.
The Spreadsheet Error: An Honest Mistake, Not Deception
Sinergia acknowledged that a mistake was made in our spreadsheet in our first response. We appreciate Vetted Causes for pointing out that our spreadsheet stated, “JBS published in 2023 the commitment to banning ear notching by 2023.” We didn’t notice this when preparing our first reply. This information is accurate, as it was indeed written by Sinergia’s team. Initially, when we didn’t see this information, we believed the most plausible explanation was that this was a translation error. However, upon reviewing the context, the most plausible explanation is that Sinergia unintentionally typed the wrong deadline—2023 instead of 2027– and continued to fill out other parts of the spreadsheet with the mistaken deadline. Given that this spreadsheet was prepared several months ago, we were unable to recall every detail of its compilation, but we take responsibility for the oversight.
That said, we want to emphasize again that this was an honest and unintentional mistake, not an act of bad faith, as implied by Vetted Causes. We are sad to see that Vetted Causes, however, has escalated this into a text that suggests dishonesty, which is both unfair and unsubstantiated.
The Removal of Cell W10: Addressing Confidentiality Concerns
Vetted Causes suggests that we deliberately deleted information to obscure evidence. This is not true and again implies we act in bad faith. Cell W10 was removed due to confidentiality issues, and ACE will be providing further clarification on this matter. We invite Vetted Causes to please note that this cell is not available on our hens spreadsheet either. There, it was deleted before publication by ACE because it contained confidential information too. It is irresponsible for Vetted Causes to speculate and present this as evidence of wrongdoing without having conclusive proof of it and waiting for a full explanation.
A Pattern of Unfair Accusations
Instead of assuming good faith, as is the norm of this forum and other spaces for constructive discussions, Vetted Causes continues to use inflammatory language such as “false claims” and “downplaying.” These accusations are not only misleading but also undermine the integrity of reasonable debate. We urge them to reconsider their approach and engage with organizations in a manner that is fair and collaborative.
A Call for Improvements
We once again invite Vetted Causes to uphold the basic principles of fairness and integrity, and their own promises of ‘honest and accurate charity evaluations’ by:
Sinergia remains committed to transparency, acknowledging mistakes, respectfully interacting with other stakeholders, and creating a real and meaningful impact for farmed animals. We will continue our work despite any attempts that seem to aim to discredit us. We hope Vetted Causes will reflect on their approach and choose a path that fosters constructive discussion rather than divisive rhetoric.
Thank you for this comment. While I initially found the analysis of Vetted Causes plausible and worth addressing, your comments (and ACE) made me update positively in your favor. They were very clear and constructive. I changed my mind on this topic.
I am now concerned that Vetted Causes 1/ Continues to make strong claims suggesting ill-intent, when this can be explained by honest mistakes from their or Sinergia's part 2/ Is not trying to discuss these matters with the charity beforehand, which would save a lot of time and reputational harm to everyone (including us readers who have to wait days before getting the position of both sides). This doesn't look good.
Note: I think you got some downvotes on this comment because you reused the same text four times in this comment thread. This is probably not good for readability. I think next time you can just make this one comment and link to it elsewhere.
Hi CB,
Yesterday, I went through the comments from Carolina Galvani on Vetted Causes' reviews of Sinergia's work on helping pigs. It seems to me that ACE and Sinergia made significant mistakes. You can see why in this comment, and my replies to Carolina's comments. I would be curious to know your thoughts on my comments.
Hi Vasco,
I haven't looked at this discussion for many months, and don't exactly remember the technical points. I also don't have a lot of time to dedicate on the topic since they weren't part of my donation portfolio (but mostly because I haven't look into what Synergia do).
I think this is an interesting discussion to have to clarify whether there has been an exaggeration, but first in the format of an actual 1-1 discussion with people at Synergia or ACE to understand more quickly whether this is a matter of lower cost-effectiveness, or just the website not being up to date.
As a note, I think you are more qualified to discuss this topic than Vetted Causes, since they directly burned bridges and caused reputational harm to the org based on shaky arguments that might have been dispelled with a 30 minutes discussion (although it's not impossible a few of them are true, looking at your comments). Same for their recent posts on the Society for the Protection of Insects.
Many thanks for your comment CB! I will fix the issue of reusing the same text now. I didn't know it was considered bad for readability. I appreciate you taking time to explain this.
“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,
Thanks for your comments. You can see Sinergia's reply here.
Hi Rebecca, thank you for your reply.
If this was a "typo" as you suggest:
We believe these pervasive issues point towards this not being a typo.
Finally, we’d like to clarify what we think the biggest issue is here. Sinergia’s response states:
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.
Vetted causes, I agree with you that Sinergia shouldn't be deleting column W, especially at this time when this is happening. I think they should put it back up and add more explanatory comments if necessary.
That said, I think you are perhaps assuming too much bad faith in this whole ordeal. It seems extremely plausible to me that an ESL person would confuse a small word like this and I think you are coming at this from a perspective where you are assuming mal-intent and are finding corroborating evidence for this.
If you look at ACE’s response, Column W was never meant to be shown in the public version - they dropped the ball by forgetting to follow their standard processes for redacting things at charities’ requests for confidentiality reasons - and the recent deletion was an action they took, not Sinergia.
Hi Marcus,
Thanks for your comment. You can see Sinergia's reply here.
The calculations have not been fixed as stated by VettedCauses. ACE is still giving credit to Sinergia from 2023 on instead of from 2027 on, justifying this with the note below. I think it would have been better for ACE to fix the calculations.
Thanks, Carolina.
I agree there is a different commitment from the one announced in 2015 respecting "gestação coletiva" (group housing), and that Vetted Causes did not mention this. The report linked just above says the following on p. 33. "Para novos projetos de unidades de produção de leitões, estão previstos" "100% das gestações climatizadas com manejo cobre e solta", which means new projects to produce piglets will solely rely on the pre-implantation system. In addition, the information provided in the report respects animal welfare initiatives which were ongoing in 2022 ("As informações apresentadas sobre esse tema material ["Bem-estar Animal"] são referentes ao período de 1° de janeiro a 31 de dezembro de 2022"). So JBS made the commitment in 2022, or even earlier? Their 2021 sustainability report already mentioned a commitment to use "a pre-implantation transfer system" for new projects. "These adaptations are designed to ensure that sows spend a maximum of 28 days in individual gestation crates. The new systems use a pre-implantation transfer system that allows sows to be housed in collective systems after artificial insemination". Sinergia contributed to JBS commiting to a maximum duration in gestation crates of 7 instead of 28 days, although both refer to "a pre-implantation transfer system", and the new maximum duration started being enforced for new projects from 2022 on?
Nitpick. Vetted Causes did not claim the commitment was announced in 2015. They said "the gestation crate policy that the alleged commitment references was already listed on JBS's website in 2020 [which does not mean it was announced this year], and has been in effect since that point".
I agree with Carolina that Aurora was still performing surgical castration in 2022, although "with the use of anesthetic". Otherwise, I would not have expected the version from 24 October 2022 at 16:45:06 to have elaborated on what to do when immunological castration is not possible. "Regarding surgical castration of piglets, we recommend immunological castration, which provides greater comfort and less stress to the animals. However, when this is not possible, the procedure should be performed according to technical recommendations and with the use of anesthetic". The version from 24 October 2022 at 16:45:06 also says "The Cooperative only chooses to adopt Immunocastration, as it is a less invasive practice.", which adds confusion because it can reasonably be interpreted as Aurora only using immunological castration.
Nevertheless, Aurora said in 2021 that they were using immunocastration on a large scale, and the information on Aurora's website on 24 October 2022 at 14:45:06 is compatible with surgical castration rarely being performed then, and ending in 2023 regardless of Sinergia's work. I guess ACE overestimated Sinergia's impact on Aurora's commitment by assuming this was as beneficial as preventing 7 years of all piglets being surgically castrated.
Moreover, I think ACE overestimated the benefits of the commitment, @Vince Mak 🔸. They used a decrease of 0.628 suffering-adjusted days (SADs) per piglet helped referring an improvement from "Piglets (HIC) - full suite of mutilations" to "Piglets (HIC) - no castration", whereas the real improvement was from surgical castration with the use of anesthetic to immunological castration, which seems to respect a much smaller decrease in the amount of suffering.
@Carolina Galvani - Sinergia Animal, I agree Vetted Causes did not mention this commitment. "A partir de 2023, todos os novos projetos para alojamento de matrizes suínas serão no modelo cobre e solta", which means new project will be in the model "cobre e solta". However, I do not think you should have assumed a transition deadline of 2023 applying to all the 409 k sows from BRF (which you took from p. 20 here). Only 54.5 % (= 223*10^3/(409*10^3)) of BRF's sows were in group housing according to a report published in January 2024 referring to 2023, and "cobre e solta" is a specific type of group housing, so less than 54.5 % of BRF's sows were in "cobre e solta" in 2023. You assumed 100 %, thus overestimating your impact.
Nitpick. The commitment is mentioned on page 65, not 66.
Carolina discussed this here. I followed up there. I do not understand what was Sinergia's contribution to JBS' commitment to only rely on the pre-implantation system in all new projects, @Vince Mak 🔸.
From BRF's website on 25 March 2025, only 5 % of saws in 2023 were in the pre-implantation system, which you said is "known as “cobre e solta”". So I think your assumption that 100 % of sows transitioned to "cobre e solta" in 2023 overestimates your impact through this commitment a lot.