Blinding consumers to the true cost of soy?

BOGOR, Indonesia (Forests News) — Tofu, edamame, soy sauce – if this is what you think of when you hear the word “soy” think again.

Soybean is a “hidden commodity,” and most consumers have no idea how much of the legume they eat daily. Not only is it found in thousands of processed foods and products, from margarine and chocolate to cosmetics and soaps, rising demand for meat has driven soy production to nearly 10 times what it was 50 years ago. A full 80 percent of the world’s soybean crop is fed to livestock. Much of it is produced in the Amazon and Cerrado ecosystems of Brazil, which each lose between 5 to 10,000 square kilometers of forest each year despite public and private efforts to limit soy production to land that has already been cleared.

See the rest of the story at forestsnews.org

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