Mondelez, Saputo defend sustainability practices after Greenpeace link to deforestation

An investigation by Greenpeace Unearthed, in collaboration with the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and ITV News, claimed a group of farms supplying to UK manufacturers – including Cadbury and Cathedral City – sourced some of their animal feed from companies buying Brazilian soya exported by US grain giant Cargil.

 According to Greenpeace, Grupo Scheffer – one of Cargill’s Brazilian suppliers – has been responsible for multiple incidents of environmental damage, including clearing swathes of tropical forest. 

Responding to the report, a spokesman for Cadbury owner Mondelez said eliminating deforestation was critical to protecting the local ecosystems that farmers need to produce sustainable raw materials. 

Calls for Government action

“That is why we’re working with manufacturers to promote sustainable business practices and have collectively urged the UK Government to legislate for mandatory reporting across the whole supply chain, so we can source deforestation-free commodities such as soy,” ​they added.

“As part of our commitment to tackling deforestation, we have made it clear that we expect all our UK diary suppliers to work with us and contractually commit to ensuring they are sourcing 100% deforestation free feed by 2023.”

Cathedral City owner Saputo said that from early 2022, its Davidstow Farm Standards would mandate that all farms which supply to Saputo Dairy UK’s Davidstow creamery must source feed from suppliers with a sustainable soy purchasing policy.  

Source: foodmanufacture.co.uk

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