Revealed: UK supermarket and fast food chicken linked to deforestation in Brazil

Tesco, Lidl, Asda, McDonald's and Nando's all source chicken fed on soya from Cerrado tropical biome region

• How can we stop using soya linked to deforestation?
• The Cerrado: how Brazil's vital water tank' went from forest to fields for soya

Supermarkets and fast food outlets are selling chicken fed on imported soya linked to thousands of forest fires and at least 300 sq miles (800 sq km) of tree clearance in the Brazilian Cerrado, a joint cross-border investigation has revealed.

Tesco, Lidl, Asda, McDonald's, Nando's and other high street retailers all source chicken fed on soya supplied by trading behemoth Cargill, the US's second largest private company. The combination of minimal protection for the Cerrado - a globally important carbon sink and wildlife habitat - with an opaque supply chain and confusing labelling systems, means that shoppers may be inadvertently contributing to its destruction.