Ingredients in Focus is Food Dive’s bite-size column highlighting interesting developments in the ingredients sector.
Two companies in the soybean space are tapping tech in hopes to eliminate deforestation from their supply chains.
Bunge, an agribusiness giant jointly tested a traceability platform using blockchain technology for sustainable soy with Bangkok Produce Merchandising, a subsidiary of Charoen Pokphand Foods.
The platform will allow CP Foods to trace the soybeans from farm origin, processing, transportation, to delivery at destination, the company said, allowing the soybean production process to move closer to zero-deforestation.
So far, three shipments of 185,000 metric tons of deforestation-free soybean meal were loaded by the companies in Brazil and are headed to Thailand, allowing CP Foods to track the supply chain of the ingredient. Three additional ships carrying an additional 180,000 metric tons of soybean meal are expected for shipment by July 2024, the company said.
CP Foods has a goal of connecting blockchain-based traceability solutions with suppliers, partners and farmers across the world, ensuring transparency across its supply chain, according to CEO Paisarn Kruawongvanich. “In the initial stages of our partnership with Bunge, we have shipped the first vessels of soybean meal verified deforestation-free, fully traceable from farms to their destination in Thailand for CP Foods,” he said.
CP Foods’ goal is to reach zero deforestation levels by 2025.
The collaboration started in October 2023, when both companies announced a partnership to develop studies for a blockchain traceability solution.
Soybean supply chains have been linked to deforestation and criticized for a lack of effort in solving the problem. In a recent report released by the Accountability Framework Initiative, 881 companies disclosed their impact on at least one commodity supply chain, and roughly half said they were working toward deforestation.
Other companies within the industry have been putting out similar efforts in combating the ingredient’s supply chain issues. ADM recently shipped its first vessels of verified, fully traceable soybeans from the U.S. to Europe, and intends to expand to other key locations across North America.
Bunge and CP Foods’ traceability platform will offer customers access to information including the carbon footprint of the volumes sold and whether the farm has adopted regenerative agricultural practices.