SAO PAULO, Dec 15 (Reuters) - Nearly 17% of the cattle bought by JBS SA in Brazil's Para state in the Amazon rainforest allegedly came from ranches with "irregularities" such as illegal deforestation, according to an audit by federal prosecutors released on Thursday.

The audit, which examined cattle purchases between July 2019 and June 2020, said that the world's largest meatpacker allegedly bought some 93,734 head from irregular ranchers. Overall, the audit found 136,172 irregular cattle purchases by JBS and other unlisted meatpackers that operate in the region.

JBS said in a statement that the purchases were made more than 2 years ago when it had imprecise criteria for its ranchers, adding the issue had subsequently been fixed. (Reporting by Ana Mano, Editing by Franklin Paul)