Supermarket says all soy in its supply chain will be sustainably sourced by 2025
Discount supermarket retailer Aldi will ensure all the soy in its supply chain will be sustainably sourced by 2025, it announced yesterday.
Aldi said it will work to ensure the soy used in the animal feed in its meat and dairy supply chain comes from deforestation-free sources, initially by purchasing credits from schemes such as the Roundtable for Responsible Soy (RTRS), to fund sustainable production.
Eventually it said it aims to only source soy from fully certified supply chains.
Rising global demand for meat has increased demand for soy as a feedstock, leading to deforestation in many parts of South America. Some 90 per cent of soy coming into the EU is used to feed livestock in the production of meat, poultry, dairy and eggs.
Fritz Walleczek, managing director of corporate responsibility at Aldi UK, said forests around the world are under increasing pressure from agriculture. "Through working with our suppliers and industry stakeholders, we hope to help halt deforestation and protect these biodiversity-rich areas," he said.
Aldi is just the latest in a string of UK supermarkets to take action on soy sourcing, which comes with similar reputational risks to palm oil.
In October major rival Lidl announced it now purchases RTRS credits to ensure soy farmers are paid extra for producing soy sustainably, and said it will work with all its UK suppliers to "achieve physically traceable, sustainable, zero-deforestation soy in the long term".
ASDA has promised that by 2020 the soya used in animal feed for all its own brand protein products will be responsibly sourced, while Tesco has committed to sourcing soy from verified zero deforestation areas by 2025.