Feed supplier to UK supermarkets linked to deforestation

A major feed supplier associated with UK supermarkets still buys soya feed from a farm linked to deforestation in the Amazon, despite having a sustainability pledge. 

Cargill, America’s second largest agricultural multinational, has sold feed to British chicken farms sourced from crops in Brazil’s Amazon. 

Supermarket giants Asda, Tesco and Lidl have all sold chicken fed by Cargill traded soya from deforested farms in Brazil. 

READ MORE: Sainsbury’s to stop selling Brazilian beef over deforestation links

An investigation conducted by various organisations including Greenpeace Unearthed revealed Cargill was linked with a Brazilian supplier farm that has been responsible for eight sq km of deforestation since 2013. 

The company exports thousands of tonnes of soya from Fazenda Conquista farm in Brazil to the UK every year to use in animal feed. 

However, in 2008, Cargill pledged to not buy soya beans from deforested land and said it has been “working to end deforestation related to soy production for more than 20 years”. 

Around 80% of soya beans are used in animal feed globally and a quarter of UK soya is imported from Brazil with the majority traded through Cargill. 

Currently, the farm in question is blacklisted under the Soy Moratorium, a voluntary industry agreement that bars the trade of soya beans on Amazon land deforested after 2008. 

“If fire has been used and has impacted the native forest or any irregularity is confirmed, we will take the appropriate measures,” Cargill responded to the deforestation findings. 

Major British Food companies, such as Marks and Spencer, have adopted a “zero deforestation” certification scheme to remove “dirty” soya linked to deforestation from supply chains. 

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