Edinburgh residents welcome Tesco CEO with clear message: Stop selling industrial meat and cut ties with forest destroyers

On 4 October, posters appeared on the front window of Tesco on Leith Walk, exposing how Tesco sells industrial meat linked to forest destruction.

The same posters were placed on more than 30 Tesco stores across the UK earlier this month, from Falmouth to Aberdeen. 

The posters were accompanied by a letter from Greenpeace UK Executive Director John Sauven, to make sure that the new Global CEO Ken Murphy gets the message that customers want Tesco to drop forest destroyers from their supply chains and reduce the amount of meat they sell by at least half – starting from phasing out industrial meat.  

Anke Bremer from Tollcross said: “I found it impossible to simply walk past this heartbreaking image of the Amazon burning to clear land for the production of industrial meat. The message to Tesco’s new CEO Ken Murphy couldn’t be clearer. Tesco must drop forest destroyers altogether and stop selling industrial meat.”

This year, the fire season in the Amazon has kicked off with worrying intensity, with the highest number recorded in August since 2007. Many fires which are destroying the Amazon and other forests are started deliberately to clear land to graze cattle or grow soya.

Protecting the Amazon is essential in order to avoid catastrophic climate change, protect the homes of indigenous people and wildlife, and reduce the risk of future pandemics. 

Tesco promised to end its part in deforestation for commodities such as soya by 2020, but in 2018 it quietly changed that goal to 2025 and still has not published a credible plan to show how this will be achieved.

Much of the chicken and pork on its shelves is fed on Brazilian soya, and produced by companies owned by JBS, the world’s biggest meat packing company, which has been repeatedly linked to deforestation in the Amazon, as well as human rights violations.

Tesco has recently made an announcement that it will increase its sales of plant-based food, which shows it is feeling the pressure – but this doesn’t go far enough.

In order to truly tackle its impact on forests, Tesco must reduce its overall meat and dairy footprint and stop doing business with companies owned by Amazon destroyers. 

Natalie Louw continued: “The Amazon may be 5000 miles away, but the products in my local Tesco – the very meat we eat with friends and family – are fuelling rainforest destruction.

“This summer, I started cutting my meat consumption because I can’t in good conscience keep eating food that contributes to forest destruction and to the climate crisis.

“Please join me in eating less meat, and sign our petition to supermarket chains and fast food companies on cutting forest destroyers from their supply chains.’’