Global egg customers back soy manifesto

Global egg customers are coming together to back an initiative which aims to remove soy produced in the Amazon, Cerrado and other areas of environmental sensitivity from the global food chain by 2020.

62 retailers and manufactures support manifesto

Companies such as Ahold Delhaize, Marks and Spencer, Tesco, McDonalds, Unilever and Walmart are among 62 global food retailers and manufacturers who are backing the Cerrado Manifesto – a call for action by civil society stakeholders on companies and investors.

The initiative is also backed by the Consumer Goods Forum (CGF), the organisation that represents the world’s leading 800 CEOs of food retail and food manufacturing businesses.

Ignacio Gavilan, environmental sustainability director at the CGF, is due to speak to International Egg Commission delegates at their business conference in London next month to stress why this is such an important issue for the global egg industry.

Deforestation

Deforestation is still happening, and in places at an alarming rate. Although the Amazon region is less affected by soya cultivation, areas such as the Cerrado, Atlantic Forest, Gran Chaco are still vulnerable to high rates of deforestation and native vegetation loss.

The companies have responded by signing a Statement of Support (SoS) committing them to work with local and international stakeholders to halt deforestation and native vegetation loss in the Cerrado.

The firms, which all use Brazilian soya or cattle in their supply chain, have signed the SoS with an immediate priority to develop a roadmap and implementation plan to deliver on their aims and objectives.