"There Will Be Blood - The Ugly Truth Behind Cheap Chicken", May 2022

...These shocking events took place in Takuara, the sacred land where countless generations of Guarani Kaiowá had lived in harmony with nature.

...As this investigation by Earthsight and Brazilian agribusiness watch group De Olho nos Ruralistas will show, Takuara is now a profitable soy farm inconspicuously but closely connected to household brands used by unsuspecting consumers across Europe...

Mato Grosso do Sul leads national rankings of killings of indigenous people, as well as of suicides and other social ills among indigenous communities due to extreme levels of deprivation and violence.

...Most of its territory falls within the Cerrado biome...

Our team found that Brasília do Sul's soy is purchased and processed by some of the world's most important grain traders and two of Brazil's largest cooperatives.

One of them is Lar Cooperativa Agroindustrial...

Lar's most important customer in the UK is Westbridge Foods, a major manufacturer and distributor of chicken products to some of the country's largest retailers and restaurant chains, including Sainsbury's, Asda, Aldi, Iceland, and KFC....

Westbridge claims to be a supplier to "all the major retailers in the UK"...

Westbridge, KFC and Iceland did not respond to Earthsight's requests for comment. Aldi stated that the chicken they source from Westbridge has no links to Brasília do Sul. Asda said its Westbridge chicken does not come from "this continent" (possibly meaning South America). Sainsbury's stated that the chicken supplied to it by Westbridge and sold as Sainsbury's "own brand" does not come from Lar. When asked about Valley Foods, the company replied that "as Valley Foods is a branded product you would need to speak to the manufacturer." But as stated above, Westbridge did not answer our questions.

Both Sainsbury's and Aldi added that they are continuing to investigate the matter with Westbridge. Asda, Aldi and Sainsbury's emphasised their commitments to respecting human rights throughout their supply chains and sourcing sustainable soy (see their full responses here). All three retailers seem to be relying solely on Westbridge's assurances about the origin of their chicken.

When asked for evidence to support their claims of not having any links to Lar or Brasília do Sul, Aldi and Asda provided almost identical responses and pointed to their use of Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) certification as proof of traceability.

We questioned Aldi and Asda further on the relevance of the GFSI to this investigation but neither responded. GFSI is a food safety programme and not designed to monitor indigenous rights violations...

Not a single manufacturer or retailer mentioned in this report was able to convincingly explain how they are able to stop chicken products linked to indigenous rights violations from entering their supply chains...