Soya: the ubiquitous bean

Transcription

1 Soya: the ubiquitous bean A ook at the environmenta and socia aspects of soya production. Food Facts No Research: Kerry Rankine Series editor: Tim Lobstein Sustainabe Agricuture, Food and Environment.

2 Pubic concern about the quaity of the food we eat in the UK is demonstrated by increased fears about unsafe food (a recent po 1 showed a majority now beieve food safety is deteriorating) aong with a growing interest in heathier eating and rising saes of organicay-produced foods. There is aso concern about the environment and farming practices, and how our food production and distribution systems may be contributing to probems such as transport poution, goba warming and oss of widife. This report is one of a series intended to provide information about the negative and positive impacts of food production methods on our environment and society. SAFE Food Facts are sign-posting documents, indicating the current scope of the issues and sources of further information. SAFE Aiance members and observer organisations are additiona sources of such information and their contact detais can be found inside the back cover. This is the fifth report in the series, focusing on soya production and use. It has been produced with funding from the Government s Environmenta Action Fund, the Esmée Fairbairn Charitabe Trust, the Cobb Charity, the Ceci Pikington Charitabe Trust and the Chapman Charitabe Trust. The views expressed do not necessariy represent those of every member of the SAFE Aiance. Cover picture: soya beans Research: Kerry Rankine Additiona research: Kate Best and Susan Casey Series editor: Tim Lobstein Printing on recyced paper by Haze Press, Wembey. SAFE Aiance 1999 ISBN X Supported by Sustainabe Agricuture, Food and Environment. Pubished by SAFE Aiance

3 SAFE Food Facts No 5 Soya: the ubiquitous bean Soya is in hundreds of foods that we eat from appe pies to Yorkshire puddings. It is in savoury foods and sweet, chocoates and bread, petfood and farm anima feed. Recent pubic concern has focused on the potentia threat to the environment and human heath from geneticay modified (GM) soya. GM soya and its derivatives (ois, emusifiers, favouring agents) are in our food, yet we may not know if we are eating these ingredients, nor if we are eating eggs, mik or meat from farm animas fed on GM soya. Geneticay modified or not, soya's impact on the environment is enormous. In Brazi aone, an area of 13 miion hectares (equivaent to Engand and Scotand combined) is devoted to growing soya, much of it for export. Soya pantations have repaced thousands of square mies of peasant farmand, and the crop is heaviy sprayed with pesticides. The UK imports an average of 7000 tonnes of soya every day. This report reveas the probems which resut from our dependence on this one widespread and argey invisibe ingredient. Soya with everything If you had cerea and toast for breakfast, a biscuit for eevenses, and instant soup and a chocoate bar at unch, you may we have eaten soya in every mouthfu today. Soya four is added to bread, soya oi is in margarine, soya ecithin is in chocoate and breakfast cerea, soya protein is in soup and so is soya favour enhancer. Soya is a nutritious food. The beans have a high protein content of about 40% (equivaent to chicken) with a good range of essentia amino acids. Athough in the West soya based foods have ony been eaten since the 1960s, in China soya beans have been cutivated and eaten for over 4,000 years. Soya 's high protein content make it very usefu to the food industry in a wide range of foods. In the UK soya and soya-based ingredients are used in around 60% of processed foods. The soya bean can be processed to produce soya four, protein concentrate, protein isoate and soybean oi. It is aso used to make a number of vegetarian/vegan consumer products such as soya mik, tofu, and textured vegetabe protein (TVP) for use in meat-free dishes. Soya four is used in doughnuts, cerea, bread, and sausage products. It is used in the baking industry to whiten bread to improve its appearance. Soybean concentrate is made by processing soyafour to obtain a product with a protein content of around 70% this is used by the food industry to bind foods together and to add protein, particuary to cheap foods with a ow protein content. Soya is aso used to make ecithin, an emusifier (E322) one of the most widey used food additives. And soya protein can be used to make the favour enhancers hydroysed vegetabe protein and monosodium gutamate. 2 As the soya bean is naturay high in oi, it is pressed to make soya oi, another widey used food ingredient. Soya oi is used in many margarines and spreads and is used widey for frying take-away foods. Anima feed Index Soya with everything...1 The commodity crop...2 The environmenta impact...3 Food for chickens, pigs and cows...4 Geneticay modified soya...5 Organic and non-gm soya...8 Soya for babies...10 Appendix...11 Contacts...12 References...13 Soya is an important ingredient in anima feed. In the UK, soya makes up around one sixth of tota feed use. 3 In 1997/8 the UK imported over a miion tonnes of soya cake for anima feed see the tabe overeaf. Soya is the main source of protein used in compound feeds for pig and chicken production. Industria uses Before the second word war, soya ois were used in a host of industria uses from amp oi to pastics. After the second word war petroeum based products took over. But since the mid-1980s huge soya oi surpuses ed US interests to deveop new soya-based products incuding soaps and bio-degradabe detergents. Soyabased printing inks are becoming more widey used. 1 Pubished by SAFE Aiance

4 Soya the commodity crop A soya-based foods and products come from the soya bean, a type of egume. The pant is usuay found in temperate or tropica regions, athough it needs a warm summer (and short days) to grow successfuy. Like other egumes, soya pants hep to fix nitrogen in the soi and so can be grown in rotation with other crops such as cereas and vegetabes. Word production of soya was 143 miion tonnes in 1997, 4 foowing a remarkabe rise from just 32 miion tonnes in three decades (see graph beow). The US produces around haf of the word s tota soya harvest. In 1998, US soybean pantings reached 29.5 miion hectares. Soya is traded as an internationa commodity crop, aong with coffee, oi and cotton. It competes with other products in a variety of different markets for ois, seedcake, marine and anima fats, industria ois and cereas. Technoogica advances have meant that it is frequenty possibe to substitute one product for another depending on market price. The United States is the word's biggest soya bean producer, producing 50% of the word's suppy. The annua soya harvest in the USA is worth around $14 biion and ranks second (after maize) in cash vaue for US crops. Soya is aso produced in deveoping countries, principay in Latin America: Brazi and Argentina being the major producers. The amount of soya produced in these countries has grown enormousy from the 1960s when argescae soya farming began. Soya is aso being grown over a wider and wider area in Latin America: between 1970 and 1990 the amount of and taken up by soya production grew by an average of 9% every year. In many cases this growth has been aided by pubicy-funded institutions, such as the Word Bank s grant to Boivia of $12 miion to cut down rainforests and to expand soya production. 7 Soya bean production in Latin America and the rest of the deveoping word is predicted to continue growing rapidy, mainy to feed the rising numbers of ivestock in these countries, where meat consumption is rising. For exampe, China s consumption of red meat is expected to doube over fifteen years from its present 42 miion tonnes. As a resut, the demand for oiseed protein feed in the deveoping word is predicted to grow at a rate of 5% annuay. This huge rise in production wi have to be met by expanding the amount of and under soya (and other oiseed production) as we as by the deveopment of higher yieding varieties. The environmenta and socia consequences of this expansion are discussed beow. Soya storage sios in the USA Photo: U.S. Soy The growth of soya a rapidy rising word commodity USA miions of tonnes Brazi Argentina Source: FAO 5 and Soyatech 6 2 Pubished by SAFE Aiance

5 Green food? The environmenta impact of soya Derived from a bean and beoved of vegetarians, free of choestero, rich in protein, soya woud appear to be a modern day dream food. But environmenta concerns about soya range from the impact of soya production, deforestation, oss of sma farms, and pesticide use, to the new concerns about the impact of geneticay engineered soya on biodiversity and pesticide use. Food mies In 1998 the UK imported over 2 miion tonnes of soya products (see tabe, beow). Of this, over haf (1.3 miion tonnes) was imported for anima feed, much of it from the United States and Brazi. Soya is being shipped over 5 thousand mies to provide over haf of our imports of high protein seedcake feed used for intensivey reared ivestock in the UK. The reativey cheap costs of transport make it more economica for farmers to feed their ivestock imported feeds rather than growing their own, or reying on ess intensive farming methods UK soya imports metric tonnes soya cake...1,385,945 soya four...63,043 soya beans (other than for sowing)...1,039,632 soya beans for sowing...78 non food uses...17,456 Source: DTI 8 Land use Brazi is one of the countries where huge voumes of soya are grown argey for export to Europe. Since the 1960s soya cutivation has expanded from 200,000 hectares to 13 miion hectares. 9,10 Soya production on this arge scae has ed to environmenta and socia probems. Large mechanised soya estates have caused soi erosion on the Cerrados pateau, Brazi's main soya producing region. 11 The Cerrados pateau is an ecoogicay fragie savannah area home to many endangered species. The growth of arge farms producing soya has ed to the oss of sma farms and a rise in rura unempoyment which in turn have been important factors in the deforestation of the Amazon region. Case study The main form of agricuture in the Braziian state of Parana up unti the ate 1960s was sma farms growing coffee. Then a mechanised system of soybean cutivation using arger farms and fewer workers was widey introduced. Between 1970 and 1980, over 100,000 farms of ess than 50 hectares were ost in Parana. Farms arger than 1,000 hectares increased in number by 450, taking over more than a miion hectares of and. During this period the area where soybeans were grown rose from 172,000 to 2.3 miion hectares. With ess demand for abour due to the mechanised nature of the soya farms, many abourers, sharecroppers and tenant farmers ost their ony source of income. As a resut, net migration from the rura areas of Parana reached 2.5 miion during the 1970's compared with a net gain of 170,000 in the previous decade. Many of these peope migrated to the Amazonian state of Rondonia where they started cearing the forest. Source: UNRISD 12 Brazi has gained foreign exchange from the soya trade but, according to one commentator, the country 'has proved consideraby more efficient at feeding European catte than maintaining the iveihoods of poor Braziians'. Ghost hectares and food security in the deveoping word By reying on huge voumes of imported feedstuffs such as soya for intensive ivestock production, the UK is effectivey farming 'ghost hectares' in other countries. In 1995 Britain farmed over 400,000 ghost hectares of soya in other countries, over haf of this in Brazi. 14 In the mid-1980s feedstuffs grown for the export market used over 9 miion hectares of and in deveoping countries much of it in countries ike Brazi with arge numbers of rura andess poor. 3 Pubished by SAFE Aiance

6 Soya food for chickens, pigs and cows Over haf of the UK 's soya use every year is for anima feed. The UK's cows, chickens and pigs in intensive farming systems are fed arge amounts of soya as a protein feed. As a resut the animas grow arger and faster than they woud on a diet of grass or fodder crops. Soya is therefore a centra part of the UK's intensive meat and dairy production system. However, this type of farming eads in turn to the production of arge amounts of anima wastes creating a arge waste disposa probem. One estimate puts the tota UK poution oad from ivestock excreta as being equivaent to that of 150 miion peope, and there are typicay around 1000 poution incidents from ivestock surry reported annuay to the Environment Agency. 15 Intensive anima production aso eads to raised eves of methane, a major 'greenhouse gas' impicated in cimate change. Ironicay, in Europe more animas and more meat is produced than is needed. This surpus meat is often stored (at taxpayers expense) or exported to deveoping countries at subsided prices, undercutting the market for ocay produced meat. Aternative protein feeds The two case studies beow iustrate the possibiities of producing more of the UK's anima feed in the UK. Athough this may not address a the environmenta probems of the UK's intensive ivestock industry, more ocay-grown anima feed such as beans or upins woud reduce the ong-distance transport of anima feed and the UK's ghost hectares in countries ike Brazi. Case 1: Feed means beans Fied beans are a good source of protein for catte and can be produced in the UK. A Ceveand farmer Andy Weford set out to grow fied beans as a high protein anima feed for his own catte. Despite some probems with harvesting and drying the beans, his first year gave him a respectabe profit when he sod the beans to a oca feed company. Mr Weford noted that his income from subsidy was greater than that from the sae of the beans. The feed company made him up a specia 28% protein feed containing 40% fied beans. This was mixed with the farm's own roed wheat and barey to give a 16% protein feed at around 110 per tonne. Mr Weford reported that the cows fed on this feed miked we with high eves of mik proteins. 16 Case 2: Home-grown soya A UK company, Robin Appe Ltd, has pioneered the deveopment of a new soya bean variety suitabe for growing in southern areas of the UK. The variety, caed Northern Soya, is the product of a conventiona pant breeding programme, not genetic engineering. Some acres of Northern Soya were panted in the UK in 1999 (see photo on page 9), and the area is expected to grow by 10% a year. The soya panted so far is being grown for seed to enabe more widespread commercia farming to take pace, athough 75 tonnes were sod on to anima feed manufacturers ast season. Interest in UK-produced Northern soya is being driven by the need for traceabiity by anima feed suppiers and their customers, supermarkets and major meat producers. This is mosty as a resut of fears foowing the BSE epidemic, but concerns about the pubic acceptabiity of geneticay modified (GM) soya are aso fueing demand for GM-free, UK-grown anima feed. 17 Soya and pesticides Soya crops and maize crops are the two argest users of pesticides, accounting for the highest percentage of word-wide herbicide saes. 18 Conventiona soya production requires the use of at east two appications of herbicide, one before the crop is panted and one during pant growth. In the United States there are over 29 different herbicides in common use on the soya crop. In 1996 US soya farmers used around 27,496 tonnes of herbicide on their crop. 19 The most widey used herbicides are imazethapyr, gyphosate, pendimethain and trifurain. 20 One of these, gyphosate, is becoming more widey used because of increased pantings of geneticay engineered soya (see beow) which has been modified to toerate being sprayed with this herbicide. Athough its manufacturers have caimed that use of geneticay engineered herbicide-toerant soya wi reduce herbicide use, this is disputed by many (see Spicing the bean, opposite). Brazi is the word's second argest producer of soya and it spent an estimated US$1.4 biion in 1994 on pesticides. 21 With arge tracts of and given over to the intensive production of crops such as soya and sugar cane, Brazi is caught in a chemica treadmi with ever increasing expenditure on herbicides. As intensive farming practices have ed to soi erosion and deteriorating soi structure, Brazi's arger farmers have adopted minimum tiage practices, which in turn bring an even greater dependence on herbicide appications to contro weeds. In other Latin American countries such as Argentina, where soya is the argest agricutura crop, there is aso heavy use of herbicides. In 1995 more than haf of Argentina's tota agrochemica use was for soya beans. 22 Both the natura environment and the oca popuation pay the price for this heavy use of chemicas on crops such as soya grown argey for export. Athough there is a ack of information about the true extent of i-heath from agrochemicas, one study in Brazi ooked at 556 cases of pesticide poisonings between March 1990 and March 1993, and found 46 cases of respiratory probems, one third resuting from work accidents 4 Pubished by SAFE Aiance

7 Spicing the bean: geneticay modified soya Monsanto is the word's main manufacturer of gyphosate, the herbicide used on over 35% of US soya farms. In 2000 their US patent runs out, which may reduce their profits from this chemica as other agrochemica companies can start to produce it. Monsanto deveoped a geneticay engineered soya bean to hep extend their product's ife. 23 Monsanto's Roundup Ready soya beans are geneticay modified to toerate being sprayed with Monsanto's gyphosate. Roundup Ready soya (RRS) has had genes inserted from a petunia pant, a cauifower mosaic virus and a bacterium (Agrobacterium sp). The idea is that a fied of RRS beans can be sprayed with gyphosate to eiminate weeds. Other soya crops woud be kied or damaged if sprayed with gyphosate. The main seing point to farmers has been reduced costs: gyphosate is cheaper than the more specific herbicides which have to be sprayed on non-gm soya. Industry figures for 1998 show that 50% of the US soybean area over 14.6 miion hectares was panted with Monsanto's Roundup Ready soya. Roundup Ready soya being grown in the USA ,000 hectares miion hectares miion hectares The main pantings of GM soya have taken pace in the US, but 1997 saw an estimated 85, ,000 hectares of RRS grown in Argentina, and the first sowings in Brazi are due to take pace in the 1999/2000 season, despite opposition from environmentaists and consumers. Environmenta concerns about geneticay modified soya One of the major concerns about GM soya is the extent to which the inserted foreign genes coud be transferred to native reated species and cause genetic poution passing on the introduced traits (in this case resistance to gyphosate) to other pants incuding weeds. Soya poen can be carried by bees to other soya pants and to reated wid or weed pants. Soya can cross with other members of the Gycine famiy which are found in Austraasia, incuding Japan, where Monsanto is currenty conducting fied trias with RRS. Most testing for the safety of GM crops was based on the premise that the ikeihood of gene transfer between GM pants and norma pants was the same as that between non-gm pants. However recent research shows that GM pants are 20 times more effective at passing on their genes to other pants than non-gm pants with the same characteristics. 25 The impication is that GM crops coud be highy effective at spreading their genes into wid popuations. There is aso the possibiity that, due to its resistance to herbicide, the RRS coud itsef become a troubesome weed. Monsanto has argued that soya's susceptibiity to frost wi prevent this from happening. However this ignores the probem of persistence in the Far East and parts of Latin America where frost may not occur. Gyphosate Monsanto has argued that there wi be two major environmenta benefits as more farmers pant RRS: reduced use of herbicide by farmers and the environmentay benign characteristics of gyphosate. However both these caims appear fawed. 26 On the issue of ess herbicide use, Monsanto has cacuated that the average weight of herbicide active ingredient (ai) used in in some areas of the US was 1.13 ai kg per hectare and that a simiar area of RRS wi receive 0.74 ai kg per hectare a reduction of about one third. 27 However, newer active ingredients have the same effect at ower doses than oder products and correspondingy higher efficacy and efficiency and therefore a ower weight of herbicide is not the same as using ess herbicide. In addition industry reports show that most farmers are giving two annua crop sprayings to give season-ong weed contro. 28 Saes of gyphosate have increased by over 70% across the US since Roundup Ready soya was introduced. Nor is gyphosate environmentay benign. A herbicides have environmenta impacts, given that they are designed to ki unwanted pants. Gyphosate has been shown to inhibit anaerobic nitrogen fixation in soi 29 and to be toxic to a range of soi microorganisms which infuence soi fertiity. 30 Athough gyphosate generay has ow toxicity to mammas and birds, its effectiveness against a wide range of pants has ed to the destruction of habitats and food sources for some birds and amphibians. Low doses of gyphosate have aso been shown to effect semen quaity in rabbits. 31 (See aso GM soya and human heath, overeaf.) The probem of resistance The widespread sowing of RRS and the attendant use of gyphosate over severa seasons is ikey to ead to the probem of resistant weed popuations. Even the agrochemica industry acknowedge that this is ikey: 'The recent and widespread appearance of herbicide resistant weeds is substantiay chaenging conventiona weed management strategies, and the use of engineered HRCs (herbicide resistant crops) wi ony exacerbate the probem.' 32 Some weeds have aready deveoped resistance to gyphosate, such as annua ryegrass in Austraia and 5 Pubished by SAFE Aiance

8 knotgrass and fied bindweed in the UK. Inevitaby the rise of gyphosate resistant weeds wi not ony affect those farmers sowing RRS but a farmers in the area. If widespread weed resistance does become a reaity then farmers wi be ever more firmy ocked into a cyce of using higher and higher doses of gyphosate and other herbicides with attendant effects of widife and eco-systems. Soya geneticay modified anima feed Athough consumer concerns are eading the food industry to turn to GM-free soya, the ivestock industry and the Ministry of Agricuture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) do not appear concerned that chickens, pigs and cows are eating GM soya. Last year the UK anima feed industry and UK ivestock farmers used 2 miion tonnes of soya mea for anima feeds. Of this a arge proportion came from the US 33 and other countries such as Canada and Argentina which are growing GM soya. There is a strong probabiity that soya-based anima feeds wi contain some GM soya. Despite a recent briefing to the anima feeds industry in which MAFF said that 'it is unikey that viabe GMOs woud survive the processing of most soya... used in anima feed, the current processing of soya for anima feed is not specificay designed to destroy DNA. 34 There is aso some evidence in experimenta animas to show that modified DNA fragments can survive digestion and invade ces throughout the body and even bind with the DNA of the anima s white bood ces. 35 It appears that arge numbers of UK ivestock have been eating some GM soya for at east two years without MAFF carrying out tests to show that DNA from this GM soya is in fact destroyed during processing and digestion. The precautionary principe, and the experience of the recent BSE epidemic, suggest that new feed ingredients shoud be fuy tested to show they pose no risks before they are reeased into the food chain. GM soya and human heath GM soya contains genetic materia from organisms which may not have previousy formed part of the human diet, and this must raise concerns about the ong term effects of consuming nove proteins in terms of their toxic or aergenic potentia. The other main heath concern is whether the greater use of the herbicide gyphosate, which Monsanto's GM soya is designed to withstand, wi effect human heath. Monsanto's GM soya contains a gene from an agrobacterium species which codes for an enzyme; 5- enopyruvyshikimate-3-phosphate. The herbicide gyphosate usuay kis pants by inhibiting this enzyme which is important for the heathy functioning of the pant. The new form of this enzyme which had been engineered into soya is not susceptibe to gyphosate and thus aows the GM soya to toerate Just chicken feed? Soya makes up an important part of chicken feed in the UK, providing the main source of protein for broier chickens (reared for meat) and ayers (reared for their eggs). Both intensivey-reared and free-range birds eat soya (see Tabe 2 in the Appendix). Ony organic chickens are given feeds which are guaranteed to be free of GM soya. The Food and Drink Federation, which represents a wide range of food manufacturers making chicken-based products, said that they had 'no safety concerns about the use of geneticay engineered soya in chicken feeds'. 36 They did not want to comment on whether consumers had the right to know if they were consuming chicken which had been fed on geneticay engineered soya. Birds Eye Was, who se a arge number of frozen chicken products, did not know if the chickens they used were fed on GM soya or not. They stated that they were not ooking into this at the moment. 37 The British Egg Federation, which represents most of Britain's battery and free-range egg producers, expained that their member were not concerned about this issue. 38 The British Poutry Meat Federation said that athough it was ikey that most chickens were eating some GM soya, in genera their members were not concerned about this and it was unikey that their members were trying to source GMfree soya feed for their birds. 39 And the supermarkets... Sainsbury's stated that because there is currenty no segregation of the soya crop it is ikey that their own brand chickens are currenty eating some GM soya. However, because they are now committed to phasing out geneticay modified ingredients from their products, they are working towards setting up aternative sources of non-gm soya to be used to feed their own-brand poutry. Waitrose coud not confirm that their own brand chicken and eggs were currenty fed on GM-free soya. However, as they have been working on this for some time they hoped to have systems in pace by the end of Apri which woud mean that their own brand chickens (broiers and egg-ayers) received a GM-free diet. Tesco's customer care department said that they coud not confirm that their own brand chickens' feed did not contain GM soya, but they fet that the chances of this were very sim. Safeways coud provide no information. Source: SAFE survey, March Pubished by SAFE Aiance

9 spraying with this herbicide. There are concerns over whether the new enzyme coud be aergenic in soya products which contain the protein. It is impossibe to predict exacty which food substances wi cause aergies. Monsanto have argued that there is no risk attached to the use of this enzyme in GM soya as it does not share a common gene sequence with other known protein aergens. 40 However other speciaists argue that aergenic proteins do not necessariy have common amino acid sequences, so a comparison woud be worthess. 41 The other concern is over the extent to which GM soya wi have been exposed to greater amounts of gyphosate than non-gm soya and whether GM soya wi therefore contain higher herbicide residues. A study by the Pesticides Trust concuded that by definition the GM soya is ikey to be exposed to greater amounts of the herbicide and is therefore more ikey to contain higher gyphosate residues. There is evidence from the Word Heath Organisation to show gyphosate residues remain in four and cerea products, foowing gyphosate use on cereas in the fieds, and that residues in anima feed resuted in traces of gyphosate being found in meat, mik and eggs. 42 The right to choose what we eat. Most consumers want to know what is in the food they are eating or giving to their chidren. In an attempt to dea with this issue, the European Commission has brought in EC Reguation (1139/98) on the 1st September 1998 which requires that a foods containing protein or DNA from Roundup Ready soya (or a type of GM maize) must decare this on the abe. This wi incude food in restaurants and take-aways. However, the reguation exempts foods derived from GM soya if the food does not contain protein or DNA from the GM ingredients. This means that the huge number of foods which contain soya ois or soya ecithin wi not have to be abeed even if they come from GM soya. The Food Commission has isted over a thousand top brands which may contain soya ingredients but which don t have to be abeed to compy with the new egisation. Exampes from their ist incude: Confectionery such as Kitkat, Fake and Gaaxy (which may contain soya-derived ecithin) Loaves of bread, such as Hovis and Sunbest (which may use soya-derived additive E471) Biscuits and snacks, such as Keogg's Nutrigrain (which may contain soya-derived ois) It is possibe that these products do not contain GM soya derived ingredients, but under current egisation the consumer has no right to know. The faiure of the government to poice the GM soya in our food was highighted by newspaper reports in March Tests by trading standards officers in Worcestershire found a type of geneticay engineered soya bean in foods which has not been approved for use in the UK but beieved to be from another type of GM soya which is icensed for use in the USA but not in the UK. Pubic concern about GM foods A recent Mori survey found 61% of the pubic do not want to eat GM food and 77% supported a ban on the commercia growing of GM crops. During the eary months of 1999, pubic concern about GM food and its presence in the food chain increased. Despite government reassurances that GM food, incuding soya, was safe, a number of institutions decared that they were banning GM foods from their menus. The Loca Government Association in February 1999 recommended that councis in Engand and Waes ban GM foods from their schoos, care homes and meason-whees services for five years. 44 The House of Commons restaurants had aready been pursuing a poicy of GM-free foods for severa months. 45 Your veggie burger When veggie burgers were aunched in 1983 by Hadane Foods, demand was restricted to a vegetarian minority, but over the ast seventeen years thanks party to concerns over heathy eating and party to the BSE epidemic, more and more peope, particuary younger peope, are avoiding meat or reducing their meat intake. This has ed to a huge growth in saes of vegetarian convenience foods, incuding veggie burgers. A recent survey showed that 24% of consumers buy vegetarian burgers, sausages and gris. 46 Most of these veggie burgers have a arge soya content. The exceptions are the Quorn based burgers and gris made by Marow Foods. Soya-based veggie burgers had annua saes of 18 miion in 1996, 47 around 58% of the meat-free burger market. Veggie burgers and other meat-free convenience foods are now seen by the food industry as a dynamic and rapidy expanding area. For exampe, Birds Eye spent over 3 miion on advertising to support the reaunch of its meat-free range of burgers and gris in 1997 for the mass market not just vegetarians. But what exacty is in the average soya-based veggie burger and where does it come from? Most of the soya-based veggie burgers are made from Textured Vegetabe Protein, (TVP). TVP is made from de-fatted soya four and processed to give a sponge-ike texture, and then favoured to resembe meat. A much smaer percentage of veggie burgers are made from tofu (coaguated soya mik from soya beans, pressed into cakes.). Veggie burgers aso tend to contain vegetabe oi which is ikey to be soya oi (as this is the most widey used vegetabe oi). 7 Pubished by SAFE Aiance

10 GM veggie brands? We surveyed the eading makes of veggie burger to find out which brands are GM-free. Athough the majority of the manufacturers caim that they do not use GM soya in their products, the consumer has no guarantee that the product does not contain GM soya derivatives and the manufacturers are under no obigation to make sure that the soya derivatives are GM-free. Birds Eye Was is the brand eader with annua saes of 7 miion and 23% of the market in Birds Eye says that there is no GM soya or soya oi or ecithin in their veggie burgers. Some of Birds Eye's meat products contain GM soya, incuding Birds Eye Origina beefburgers, beef quarterpounders and Southern Fried Chicken Nuggets. Product packs are abeed to show that they contain GM soya ingredients. Caudron Foods is the eading brand of tofu based burgers and the eading suppier of tofu in the UK with 90% of the market. Their food products are currenty approved by the Vegetarian society. At the moment there is no abeing on their products to say that they are GM-free, but the company states that their soya is from Canada and is guaranteed by their suppiers to be GM-free. Hadane Foods, subsidiary of Archer Danies Midand, says that the soya in their veggie burgers and other meatess products is not from GM soya beans. Hadane say that when their entire range is GM-free they wi probaby abe their products as GM-free. United Biscuits Ross Young are manufacturers of the Linda McCartney brand, one of the eading veggie burger companies accounting for around 10% of the market. In February 1999 the Linda McCartney brand found itsef under pressure when it was reveaed that their sausages and vegetarian mince contained GM soya. The company had previousy assured consumers that it ony used non-gm soya. Tiva s products, which incude veggie burgers, are a mixture of soya and wheat protein. Tiva aso make veggie burgers for Sainsbury s own brand. The company states that the soya in their products is GM-free and that they have certification for this from their suppiers. Marow Foods are makers of Quorn products, the eading veggie brand on the market with 32% market share in The company uses unspecified vegetabe oi, which coud be derived from soya oi. McDonad s Vegetabe Deuxe burger bun contains soya four, the pattie contains soya protein isoate and the sandwich sauce contains soya bean oi. The company says that both the soya four and the soya protein isoate are tested as being GM-free by the suppiers. McDonad s cannot confirm whether the source of the soya bean oi is GM-free. Burger King states that it is unabe to guarantee that the soya used in any of its products is GM-free. Products that contain soya-based ingredients incude the burger buns and the oi used to fry products. New markets organic and non-gm soya Given the environmenta and human heath concerns which exist about geneticay engineered soya and the concerns about high herbicide usages on conventiona soya two new markets are emerging, for organicaygrown soya and for guaranteed non-gm soya. Organic soya Organic soya, that is soya grown without the use of pesticides, artificia fertiisers and production methods that damage the environment, has been avaiabe for severa years athough its market share is sti sma. In the United States, the American Soybean Association estimates that current organic production eves are ess than 1% of the soya harvest. 48 Athough figures for the amount of acreage under organic soya are hard to come by, in Iowa, a arge grain producing state, there were approximatey 22,950 acres of organic soya in Organic soya commands a high premium. Growers in the US currenty get between $14-20 per bushe for tofu grade beans, compared with $8-15 per bushe for the non-organic equivaent. 50 In the United States one company, American Heath and Nutrition, estimated it currenty has between growers under contract, producing around 50,000 tonnes per year for use in soya mik. 51 Other companies serve different parts of the soya market producing soya for tofu production, soya mea or oi. There are aso organic soya producers in Canada. A arge part of the organic soya currenty produced in the United States is exported to Japan. Industry sources confirm that the demand for organic soybeans is 'tremendous, particuary in Asia'. 52 Increasing demand for organic meat, mik and eggs is aso driving demand for organic foodstuffs. A growing number of US West Coast and internationa feed companies are setting up suppy contracts with organic growers in the Midwest to fufi orders. Demand for organic soybeans is outrunning the suppy, and as a US grain suppier points out We reay want these soybeans, we have contracts to fi... in the ong term they' be better off serving a human food market than a feed market' Pubished by SAFE Aiance

11 Non-GM soya Demand for non-gm soya has grown in a sections of the UK food industry, from anima feed suppiers to supermarkets. The UK's two argest suppiers of soya four, Arcady Craigmiar and Spiers Premier Products, are both now suppying ony GM-free soya four to bakers. The non-gm soya for both companies comes from Canada. Athough some Canadian soya farmers are using GM beans, the smaer scae of the Canadian soya bean industry and their greater experience in segregation has made it easier to keep track of non-gm soya. Canadian companies are benefitting from the increased interest in their GMfree products. One company, WG Thompson, a soya bean suppier, has noted 'a very significant rise' in exports to the UK of non-gm soya beans for soya four. UK companies are aso benefiting from the growth in the market for non-gm soya and soya products. A UK company, Soya Internationa, suppies GM free soya mik and heath foods. They source their soya from Brazi, providing the GM-free soya seed beans to farmers in the Sao Pauo region who grow under contract for them. Soya Internationa have seen demand for their products rise over the ast tweve months, they currenty suppy severa major supermarkets incuding Iceand Foods, Asda and Marks & Spencers. A fina note on soya for babies Over the ast few years many parents concerned about aergies to dairy products have started to feed their babies with soya-based formua mik. Around 3% of infants in the UK are now fed on soya formua mik with saes worth neary 9 miion a year. 54 However since 1994 groups such as the Food Commission have warned that soya baby mik may affect chidren's heath. In 1996 the UK Department of Heath stated that phytoestrogens found in soya infant formuas coud affect the heath of infants. Phytoestrogens are compounds that occur naturay in some foods such as soya. The type of phytoestrogens found in soya, caed isofavones, mimic the effects of the femae hormone oestrogen which contros fertiity and reproductive heath. Exposure to these oestrogen mimics in eary infancy coud effect future fertiity and reproductive deveopment. Soya isofavones have aso been shown to have other bioogica effects on infants incuding changes in the function of the centra nervous system, the thyroid and behavioura patterns. 55 A study of the effects of eating daiy sma amounts of soya on adut women showed disruption to the menstrua cyce which persisted for three months after the experiment ended. 56 Infants having severa feeds of soya mik a day are being exposed to significanty higher doses of isofavones for onger periods than the women in the study. 57 The eves of isofavones found inbabies fed with soya formua are comparabe to eves that exert significant oestrogenic effects on experimenta animas. Because the endocrina systems in infants are sti deveoping in the months after birth, exposure to endocrine disrupters shoud be avoided. A senior scientist at the US Food and Drug Administration's Nationa Centre for Toxicoogica Research, Dr Danie Sheehan, said that infants fed soya formua miks are taking part in a 'arge, uncontroed and basicay unmonitored human infant experiment'. 58 Current government advice is that soya formua shoud not be fed to infants uness on the recommendation of a heath professiona. But as soya formua is widey avaiabe, usuay on the same shef as cow's mik formuas, there is nothing to prevent parents using soya mik formua, neither are there any warnings on the packs. The government has asked the soy mik companies to reformuate their miks to remove the soy isofavones. The companies are currenty considering the matter. In the meantime, they have announced they are removing a GM soya from their products foowing pubic concern over the issue Pubished by SAFE Aiance

12 Recommendations for consumers: Recommendations for retaiers Recommendations for government Buy organic soya, as this wi mean that the soya has been produced in a more environmentay friendy way, and that the soya has not been geneticay engineered. Read the ingredients abes on a processed foods to avoid geneticay modified soya (see the Food Commission s guide GM Free). 60 Avoid soya based formua miks for babies. Breastfeeding is best for infants. The American Coege of Paediatrics now recommends breast feeding for a minimum of one year. This means that an infant's exposure to phytoestrogens during a crucia deveopmenta period is reduced. If you eat chicken, pork or beef, start asking retaiers and manufacturers such as Birds Eye whether the anima was fed on geneticay engineered soya or not. Make it cear that you woud prefer animas fed on GM-free feeds. Buy meat that has been reared organicay as this method uses itte extra feed rations, and no GM food at a. Phase out products contain geneticay modified soya. Support those soya producers growing non-gm soya. Make sure that the meat, mik and egg products you stock are derived from animas fed on GM-free diets in order to give consumers a choice. Recommendations for farmers Try feeding animas on nonsoya home-grown protein feeds such as home-produced beans. Take advantage of the higher premiums for organic producers and convert to organic farming. Ask your feed suppiers to suppy non-gm soya feeds. The greater the demand the cheaper these feeds wi become. Respond to consumer and environmentaists concerns about the potentia for damage to the environment and human heath from GM soya by opposing the icensing for sae of new varieties of GM soya. Given the uncertainty about the ong-term effects of geneticay engineered soya on the environment and human heath, act on the precautionary principe and withdraw Monsanto's icence to se their Roundup Ready soya in the UK. Impement a freeze on a further commercia deveopment of GM food crops, incuding their use in the food suppy, unti better segregation, tracing and monitoring procedures are in pace. Increase support for organic agricuture in ine with other European countries. Use fisca poicy to encourage farmers to rey on home-grown feedstuffs for anima feeds. Buy more fresh, unprocessed food. It is heathier and ess ikey to contain soya-derived ingredients. 10 Pubished by SAFE Aiance

13 Appendix Tabe 1. Farm anima popuation in the UK, June 1998 Catte miion Pigs miion Poutry miion Sheep miion Source: MAFF 61 Tabe 2. Constituents of chicken feed Broiers (reared for meat) Layers (kept for eggs) Soya...21%...18% Soya oi...1%...4% Wheat...66%...63% Limestone...0%...10% Fishmea...4%...0% Fats...5%...0% Grassmea...0%...3% Source: BEIC/NFU 62 Tabe 3. Soya imports 1997 miions of metric tonnes UK European Union soya cake soya beans Source:FAO 63 Tabe 4. Soya bean production 1997/8 Production Area miion tonnes miion hectares Argentina Brazi China EU (Itay, Spain) Paraguay USA Source: Soyatech Pubished by SAFE Aiance

14 Usefu contacts Compassion in Word Farming Chares House 5a Chares Street Petersfied, Hants GU32 3EH Te Fax e-mai Leading organisation on anima wefare issues, concerned with BST and anima feedstuffs. Counci for the Protection of Rura Engand Warwick House 25 Buckingham Paace Road London SW1W OPP Te Fax e-mai web Nationa charity heping peope to protect and enhance their oca countryside and to keep it beautifu, productive and enjoyabe for everyone. East Angia Food Link 49a High Street Watton Thetford IP25 6AB Te Fax e-mai Provides advice and consutancy on organic production and regiona and co-operative marketing and promotes exchange between farmers and organisations in the socia economy in the UK and Europe. Farming and Widife Advisory Group Nationa Agricuture Centre Stoneeigh Keniworth CV8 2RX Te Fax An independent organisation with charitabe status and the eading provider of farm conservation advice in the UK. Food Commission 94 White Lion Street London N1 9PF Te Fax e-mai web Campaigning organisation covering a wide range of food production and nutrition issues, and pubishers of The Food Magazine. Friends of the Earth Underwood Street London N1 7JF Te Fax e-mai info@foe.co.uk web One of the UK's most infuentia nationa environmenta pressure groups. Genetic Engineering Aiance 94 White Lion Street London N1 9PF Te Fax e-mai geaiance@dia.pipex.com Aiance of organisations caing for a Five Year Freeze on the introduction of geneticay modified organisms. Genetics Forum 94 White Lion Street London N1 9PF Te Fax e-mai geneticsforum@gn.apc.org A discussion forum for genetic engineering issues incuding food and agricuture. Pubishers of the quartery journa, Spice. GeneWatch 5 Post Office Row Litton, Buxton SK17 8QS Te Fax e-mai genewatch@dia.pipex.com Provides very usefu Briefings on genetic engineering and food issues. Green Network 9 Cairmont Road Lexden, Cochester CO3 5BE Te Fax Umbrea organisation of sma organisations and individuas networking internationay, working on environmenta poution, human heath issues, and with and for farmers. Greenpeace Canonbury Vias London N1 2PN Te Fax e-mai info@uk.greenpeace.org web One of the UK s major environmenta pressure groups. Ministry of Agricuture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF) 17 Smith Square London SW1P 3JR Hepine (pubic enquiries) web Government information on food and agricuture. The Pesticides Trust Euroink Centre 49 Effra Road London SW2 1BZ Te Fax e-mai pesttrust@gn.apc.org An independent charity addressing the heath and environmenta probems of pesticides and working for a sustainabe future. The Roya Society for the Protection of Birds (RSBP) The Lodge Sandy Bedfordshire SG19 2DL Te Fax e-mai enquiries@rspb.org.uk web The charity that takes action for wid birds and the environment. The Soi Association Bristo House Victoria Street Bristo BS1 6BY Te Fax e-mai info@soiassociation.org Campaigning for organic food and farming and sustainabe forestry. 12 Pubished by SAFE Aiance

15 References 1 Guardian ICM po reported in The Guardian, GM Free: A Shoppers Guide to Geneticay Modified Food, Sue Dibb and Tim Lobstein, The Food Commission, London: Virgin Books, Home Grown Cereas Authority, Weeky Digest, Vo.23, No.16, October Soi and Oiseed Buebook Onine, 5 Food and Agricuture Organization of the United Nations, Statistica Database ( annua. 6 Soi and Oiseed Buebook Onine, 7 Tracey Cunies-Ross and Nichoas Hidyard The Poitics of Industria Agricuture, Earthscan, Department of Trade and Industry, Import Statistics, December Tomorrow s Word, p 143, Friends of the Earth, 1998, 10 Soi and Oiseed Buebook Onine, op cit. 11 Angea Paxton, The Food Mies Report, SAFE Aiance, The Socia Dynamics of Deforestation in the Braziian Amazon: An Overview, Discussion Paper, Antonio Caros Diegues, United Nations Research Institute for Sustainabe Deveopment (UNRISD), Juy Kevin Watkins, The Oxfam Poverty Report, Oxford: Oxfam Pubications, Tomorrow's Word, op cit. 15 Tomorrow's Word, op cit. 16 A Weford, Landmark 23, Farmers Word Network, Jan/Feb Teephone conversation with Edward Wimott, Robin Appe Ltd, 16 March Wood MacKenzie Agrochemica Service, Edinburgh, 1987, quoted in Update, Pesticide Action Network of North America, United States Department of Agricuture Economics and Statistics, onine system, pesticide use data, LG Copping, Geneticay Modified Crops II Genetic Engineering for Herbicide Toerance, AGROW reports, November Pesticide Action Network North America, Panups: Latin American Pesticide Market Growth, San Francisco, Apri Pesticide Action Network North America, op cit. 23 See The Price of Resistance, The Pesticides Trust, November LG Copping op cit. 25 J Bergeson, CB Purrington and G Wichmann, Promiscuity in transgenic pants, Nature, p.25, 3 September The Price of Resistance, op cit. 27 The Price of Resistance, op cit. 28 LG Copping op cit. 29 The Price of Resistance, op cit. 30 SM Carise and JT Trevors Gyphosate in the Environment, Water, Air and Soi Poution, 39, , MI Yousef et a, Toxic effects of carbofuran and gyphosate on semen characteristics in rabbits, J Environ. Sci. Heath, B30 (4) , WE Dyer, Moecuar Bioogy, Physioogy and Ecoogy of Herbicide Resistant Crops, paper presented to the American Chemica Society, Washington, August Department of Trade and Industry, op cit. 34 Background Note on GMOs in anima feed, Ministry of Agricuture, Fisheries and Food, 11 March R Schubbert et a, Proceedings of the Nationa Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 94, Teephone conversation with Georgina Prentice, Communications Dept, Food and Drink Federation, 23 March Teephone conversation with Nina Brooks, Consumer Care Department, Birds Eye Was, 23 March Teephone conversation with Louisa Patt, British Egg Federation, 22 March Teephone conversation with British Poutry Federation, 22 March Not Ready for Roundup: A Critique of Monsanto s Risk Evauation, Greenpeace, SL Tayor, Proceedings of the 3rd Internationa Symposium on the Biosafety Resuts of Fied Tests of Geneticay Modified Pants and Microorganisms, University of Caifornia at Monterey, Oakand, November Word Heath Organization, Gyphosate: Environmenta Heath Criteria 159, The Internationa Programme on Chemica Safety, WHO, Geneva, Scientists find banned soya in UK products Rache Syvester, The Independent on Sunday, 14 March See GM Free: A Shopper s Guide to Geneticay Modified Food, op cit. 45 See Hansard, 20 Juy Pubished by SAFE Aiance

16 References 46 Vegetarian Foods Minte Marketing Inteigence, Food and Drink Minte Marketing Inteigence, Teephone conversation with Kim Ni, Deputy Director for Internationa Marketing, American Soybean Association, March Organic Perspectives, United States Department of Agricuture, February Seed and Crops Digest, p 14, January Lynn Carkson, President of Carkson Grain Company, quoted in Seed and Crop Digest, January Jimi Traub, quoted in Soybean Digest, p 65, January Teephone conversation with Sonny Arora, Saes Director, Soya Internationa Ltd, 15 March Safety Concerns over Soya Baby Miks, The Food Magazine, 28, Jan-March See Soya Infant Formua: The Heath Concerns, Briefing Paper, The Food Commission, October A Cassidy, cited in ibid. 57 Soya Infant Formua: The Heath Concerns, op cit. 58 DM Sheehan, Cinica Chemistry, 43, 1997, cited in The Food Magazine, 43, October See GM Free: A Shopper s Guide to Geneticay Modified Food, op cit. 60 See GM Free: A Shopper s Guide to Geneticay Modified Food, op cit. 61 Ministry of Agricuture, Fisheries and Food, Agricuture in the United Kingdom 1998, MAFF, Correspondence with the British Egg Information Counci and the Nationa Farmers Union, Food and Agricuture Organization of the United Nations, Statistica Database ( annua. 64 Soi and Oiseed Buebook Onine, 14 Pubished by SAFE Aiance

17 March the Greenpeace campaign against GM soya incuded the dumping of a truckoad of beans at the entrance to Downing Street. The truck says Tony don t swaow Bi s seed. Photos: Greenpeace/Cobbing Outside Downing Street the soya became a focus for pro-organic farming methods. The truck driver was invited to accompany the oca poice. 15 Pubished by SAFE Aiance

18 16 Pubished by SAFE Aiance

19 Sustainabe Agricuture, Food and Environment. The Sustainabe Agricuture, Food and Environment Aiance exists to unite farmer, environmenta, consumer, anima wefare and deveopmenta organisations. We seek forms of food production which are beneficia to the environment, sensitive to the need for goba equity, and which produce safe and heathy food in a manner supportive of rura ife and cuture. The SAFE Aiance is joining with the Nationa Food Aiance to become Sustain The aiance for better food and farming Pubished by SAFE Aiance

20 Food Facts No 5 Soya: the ubiquitous bean A SAFE ALLIANCE PUBLICATION 1999 ISBN X Price 4.00 Sustainabe Agricuture, Food and Environment Aiance 94 White Lion Street, London, N1 9PF Te: Fax: Printed on recyced paper by Haze Press, Wembey Sustainabe Agricuture, Food and Environment Aiance. SAFE Aiance Sustainabe Agricuture, Food and Environment.