This week we became one of the founding signatories of the UK Soy Manifesto: a commitment by some of the UK’s biggest retailers and food producers (including most of our customers and competitors) to only use conversion and deforestation free soy by no later than 2025.

We recognise that deforestation is a major issue, especially in Brazil and the Amazon forest in particular.  Soy is an excellent source of protein for our birds and the quality of Brazilian soy means that we can use less than if it were sourced from other regions.  Our commitment to the UK Soy Manifesto, recognises our commitment to source soy responsibly.

Signing up to the UK Soy Manifesto was actually quite straightforward, because it repeats a commitment that we made a couple of years ago and we are already making good progress.  So far, we’ve reduced amount of soy in our diet and introduced alternative feed ingredients to provide vital protein from other sources.  For the soy that we do use, we only buy certified zero-deforestation soy, traceable back to sub-regional level in Brazil and we’re on track to only use verified zero-deforestation soy by 2025.  Equally importantly, this progress also supports the science-based targets that we have established for carbon emission reductions across our supply chain.

“Soy is a hot topic but it’s not a simple one.  We want to get the balance right: use the best quality soy, so that we don’t need as much, but make sure that we procure it as responsibly as possible,” explains Andrew Brodie, People and Communications Director at Avara Foods.  “This is what we think the UK Soy Manifesto sets out to achieve and it’s why we’re happy to sign.  We’ve already mapped out a plan and have made good progress; being a part of the UK Soy Manifesto further confirms our determination to finish the journey.”