Forbidden Stories • 2nd June 2023

The Amazon Cut: Brazilian beef tied to deforestation exported to Europe

Meat giants JBS, Marfrig and Minerva all bought cattle from deforested areas.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (en-GB) • 2nd June 2023

800 million trees felled to feed appetite for Brazilian beef

More than 800 million trees have been cut down in the Amazon rainforest in just six years.

the Guardian • 2nd June 2023

More than 800m Amazon trees felled in six years to meet beef demand

More than 800m trees have been cut down in the Amazon rainforest in just six years to feed the world’s appetite for Brazilian beef.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (en-GB) • 10th February 2022

‘Deforestation-free’ soya farms still tearing down the Amazon

An investigation has found that more than 1,000 sq km of the Amazon has been felled on Brazilian soya farms over the past decade, despite an internationally recognised agreement to protect the rainforest and pledges by global firms.

the Guardian • 10th February 2022

‘Loophole’ allowing for deforestation on soya farms in Brazil’s Amazon

More than 400 sq miles (1,000 sq km) of Amazon rainforest has been felled to expand farms growing soya in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso in a 10-year period, despite an agreement to protect it, according to a new investigation.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (en-GB) • 14th January 2022

Soybean giant breaks pledge on Amazon deforestation

A major supplier of animal feed is still buying soya and corn from a farm linked to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, despite pledging to clean up its global supply chains.

the Guardian • 14th January 2022

Feed supplier to UK farm animals still linked to Amazon deforestation

A major supplier of animal feed is still buying soya and corn from a farm linked to deforestation in the Amazon, despite having pledged to clean up its global supply chains.

Mongabay Environmental News • 30th July 2021

As blazes on embargoed Amazon land surge, links to meat industry emerge

Devastating fires on legally protected land in the Amazon rainforest have surged under Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, according to a new report by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

the Guardian • 19th May 2021

Food giants accused of links to illegal Amazon deforestation

Three of the world’s biggest food businesses have been accused of buying soya from a farmer linked to illegal deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon.

Unearthed • 13th October 2021

British supermarket cheese linked to catastrophic deforestation in Brazil

Dairy cows in the UK are being fed soya linked to deforestation in the Amazon and Cerrado regions of Brazil. UK farms supplying milk and dairy products for Cathedral City Cheddar, Anchor butter and Cadbury chocolate are feeding their cattle soya from controversial agribusiness Cargill.

The Mirror • 13th October 2021

Tragic toll of Cadbury and Cathedral City exposed as Amazon rainforest destroyed

You may not realise it but some of the everyday items we innocently consume are indirectly fuelling the destruction of the Amazon. UK farms supplying milk and dairy products for Cathedral City Cheddar, Anchor butter and Cadbury chocolate feed their cattle soy from a controversial agribusiness accused of widespread deforestation in Brazil.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (en-GB) • 13th October 2021

British supermarket cheese linked to catastrophic deforestation in Brazil

Investigation by TBIJ, ITV News, Greenpeace-Unearthed and The Mirror reveals the links between household brands and destruction of Brazil's forests. Following on from our unprecedented expose into the British poultry industry's role in rainforest destruction, now we turn our attention to the dairy sector.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism • 28th November 2020

Cargill: the company feeding the world by helping destroy the planet

It's a controversial corporate giant that transformed how we eat and has the global food industry in its grip. So why haven't we heard of it?

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism • 28th November 2020

British chicken driving deforestation in Brazil’s “second Amazon”

Britain’s leading supermarkets and fast food outlets are selling chicken fed on soya linked to vast deforestation and thousands of fires in Brazil, an investigation has revealed.

The Guardian • 25th November 2020

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

Supermarkets and fast food outlets are selling chicken fed on imported soya linked to forest fires and deforestation in the Brazilian Cerrado, a joint cross-border investigation has revealed.

Business Green • 31st July 2021

Revealed: UK supermarkets linked to beef suppliers driving illegal Amazon deforestation

The global meat industry is once again under fire over its links to rainforest destruction.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism (en-GB) • 31st July 2021

Reign of fire: blazes surge on ‘protected’ Amazon land under Bolsonaro

Devastating fires on legally protected land in the Amazon rainforest have surged under Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro, the Bureau can reveal.

the Guardian • 13th February 2021

Walmart selling beef from firm linked to Amazon deforestation

Three of the biggest US grocery chains sell Brazilian beef produced by a controversial meat company linked to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism • 15th August 2020

"The pressure's on": HSBC warns meat company JBS over Amazon deforestation

Analysts at global banking giant HSBC have sounded the alarm over the potential risks of investing in JBS, the world’s biggest meat company.

The Guardian • 12th August 2020

HSBC sounds alarm over investment in meat giant due to deforestation inaction

Analysts at global banking giant HSBC have sounded the alarm over the potential risks of investing in JBS, the world’s biggest meat company, after a string of investigations raising concerns about Amazon deforestation issues in its beef supply chain.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism • 27th July 2020

Brazilian meat giant trucked cattle from deforested Amazon ranch

Our investigation exposed how the beef supply chain of the world’s biggest meat business, JBS, continues to be linked to the destruction of the Amazon rainforest.

The Guardian • 27th July 2020

Revealed: new evidence links Brazil meat giant JBS to Amazon deforestation

New evidence appears to connect JBS, the world’s biggest meat company, to cattle supplied from a farm in the Brazilian Amazon which is under sanction for illegal deforestation.

The Guardian • 4th June 2020

Revealed: UK banks and investors' $2bn backing of meat firms linked to Amazon deforestation

British-based banks and finance houses have provided more than $2bn (£1.5bn) in financial backing in recent years to Brazilian beef companies which have been linked to Amazon deforestation, according to new research.

The Guardian • 30th March 2020

Bolsonaro government thanked Johnson for Amazon fire support

Boris Johnson was personally thanked by the Brazilian government for refusing to support European action over the Amazon fires, according to documents obtained by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism • 17th December 2019

Amazon aflame: What we've learnt in a year reporting on Brazilian beef and the rainforest

The fires that have swept through the Amazon rainforest are a direct result of beef consumption in Europe and around the world, as documented by the Bureau in a series of investigations throughout this year.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism • 17th December 2019

Record number of fires rage around Amazon farms that supply the world's biggest butchers

The summer’s Amazon fires were three times more common in the areas supplying cattle to abattoirs than elsewhere in the rainforest.

The Guardian • 10th December 2019

World Bank urged to rethink investment in one of Brazil's big beef companies

The World Bank should reconsider its investment in one of Brazil’s biggest beef producers because of the industry’s links to deforestation and the climate crisis, according to two UN-appointed experts.

The Guardian • 10th December 2019

Calls grow for laws requiring firms to reveal links to deforestation

There is growing support in the UK and Europe for laws that would make due diligence on issues such as deforestation and human rights abuses mandatory for large businesses.

The Guardian • 10th December 2019

Revealed: fires three times more common in Amazon beef farming zones

Fires were three times more common in beef-producing zones than in the rest of the Amazon this summer, according to a new analysis.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism • 30th September 2019

UK purchased £1bn of beef from firms tied to Amazon deforestation

The world’s biggest supplier of burgers has been fuelling the destruction of the Amazon rainforest by sourcing cattle from ranches linked to deforestation – and British companies are still buying thousands of tonnes of its beef.

The Guardian • 18th June 2019

Ammonia pollution damaging more than 60% of UK land – report

Ammonia and nitrogen pollution, mostly from farms, is harming more than 60% of the UK’s land area and hitting the most sensitive habitats for plants and wildlife hardest, a government report has found, despite there being no clear plans to monitor or reduce its impact.

The Guardian • 13th June 2019

Testing reveals ammonia pollutant hotspots at UK farms

Testing carried out by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism around eight dairy units in the UK has revealed ammonia hotspots at three of them.

The Guardian • 13th June 2019

Revealed: UK government failing to tackle rise of serious air pollutant

Evidence obtained by a joint investigation by the Guardian, the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Channel 4 News suggests that at least 3,000 deaths each year could be avoided if agricultural ammonia emissions were halved.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism • 21st August 2017

Dirty business: The livestock farms polluting the UK

Lynda and Richard Whittemore bought Quennells farm, in the quiet Sussex countryside, six years ago. They hoped to lead “an idyllic lifestyle”, tending their flock of 400 pedigree, grass-fed Lleyn sheep and 45 Highland cattle on 180 acres of farmland.

The Guardian • 21st August 2017

Serious farm pollution breaches rise in UK – and many go unprosecuted

Serious pollution incidents in the UK from livestock farms are now a weekly occurrence, leading to damage to wildlife, fish, farm livestock and air and water pollution.

The Guardian • 21st August 2017

'Thick, black tarry stuff flowed down our stream': how slurry spills affect the land

Lynda and Richard Whittemore bought Quennells farm in the quiet Sussex countryside six years ago. They were hoping for what Lynda calls “an idyllic lifestyle”, tending their flock of 400 pedigree sheep and 45 cattle on 180 acres of farmland.

The Bureau of Investigative Journalism • 18th October 2016

How dirty production of NHS drugs helps create superbugs

The NHS is buying drugs from pharmaceutical companies in India whose dirty production methods are fuelling the rise of superbugs, and there are no checks or regulations in place to stop this happening, according to a major new investigation by The Bureau of Investigative Journalism.

iNews • 18th October 2016

'Super-bugs' being fuelled by foreign NHS drug contracts, report

The Government is to consider imposing new rules on factories abroad which supply the NHS with millions of antibiotics every year following evidence suggesting that pollution from pharmaceutical plants in India is fuelling the rise of lethal superbugs.

The Ecologist • 26th October 2016

Revealed: the hidden pollution linked to drug factories

The growth in superbugs - infections which are resistant to antibiotics - is one of the biggest public health crises facing the world today, and pollution in drug companies' supply chains is one of its causes.

The Independent • 17th September 2013

Fracking sparks serious food safety concern

Fracking in the British countryside poses such a risk to livestock that a moratorium should be imposed on the industry until its impact on food safety can be assessed.

The Independent • 17th September 2013

Is fracking a mortal threat to our livestock?

Close to the Sussex village of Fernhurst lies a body of brackish water which attests to the ravages of industrialisation. Surrounded by trees, it is a large “furnace pond” dug out of the countryside at least 300 years ago to provide water for the iron industry that once pockmarked the Weald.

HuffPost UK • 7th February 2014

Why Fracking Threatens Farmers and Food Safety

The announcement this week by the gas company Cuadrilla that it wants to drill and frack up to eight new wells in Lancashire has alarmed local people and green campaigners alike. But there's so far been little reporting of the potential impacts on farming and food safety. But new evidence from the USA should worry all of us, according to experts.

The Guardian • 16th October 2009

Deforestation and pesticides - the true cost of Europe's cheap meat

Cheap meat has become a way of life in much of Europe, but the full price is being paid across Latin America as vast soya plantations and their attendant chemicals lead to poisonings and violence.

The Ecologist • 13th October 2009

Killing fields: the true cost of Europe's cheap meat

Much of the cheap meat and dairy produce sold in supermarkets across Europe is arriving as a result of serious human rights abuses and environmental damage in one of Latin America's most impoverished countries, according to a new film launched in conjunction with the Ecologist Film Unit.

The Ecologist • 31st December 2013

Harmful weedkiller in your bread and cereal bars

They are the proud sponsors of Channel 4's River Cottage series and widely recognised for their commitment to the environment, promoting 'conservation grade' farming where growers must dedicate portions of their land to benefit wildlife.

Medium • 25th May 2014

What’s the real cost of glyphosate & GM animal feed?

Piles of paperwork are laid out across a table; print outs, reports, statistics, scientific reports. Pedersen shows me photos: piglets with spinal deformities, back legs dragging on the ground; problems with their faces, limbs or tails.

HuffPost UK • 17th February 2014

Revealed: How Genetically Modified Food Is Finding Its Way Onto Your Dinner Plate

Genetically modified (GM) food is flooding into the UK through the back door with many consumers unaware that much of the meat and dairy products they eat may have been made from farm animals fed a diet containing GM crops.

The Guardian • 29th October 2015

French wine industry's love affair with pesticides blamed for worker health problems

Wenny Tari knows a thing or two about wine. She and her husband Gabriel have been making it since 1982, when they inherited a vineyard in France’s picturesque Languedoc region in the south of the country.

The Independent • 29th May 2012

Illicit shellfish trade risking health of thousands

The illicit and highly-lucrative trade in shellfish is putting the health of many thousands of people at risk with tonnes of potentially contaminated seafood feared to be entering the food chain.

Medium • 25th May 2014

Shellfish smuggling blights UK coast

The illegal harvesting of clams, cockles and oysters — amongst other fish — for sale to restaurants and wholesalers is an increasing problem and threatens an outbreak of serious food poisoning, say health officials.

Medium • 25th May 2014

Fishy business – the hidden cost of cheap farmed salmon

When operational, the pipes carry effluent — an unsavoury mixture of fish bodies, scales and fat — into the pools and the sea. Vorges and Diaz skim off the useful waste, particularly the fat, before shovelling it into containers.

The Guardian • 16th May 2011

UK e-waste illegally dumped in Ghana

One of the UK's leading waste and recycling companies has been linked to the growing underground trade in e-waste

The Ecologist • 13th March 2012

Revealed: the prescription drugs most likely to harm or kill you

A drug used to treat schizophrenia and thought disturbances in patients with Parkinson's disease is the medicine most likely to harm or kill you in the UK.

The Ecologist • 23rd May 2011

Ciprofloxacin linked to UK deaths

For some patients the drugs are linked to severe adverse reactions involving terrifying physical and mental health impacts. Andrew Wasley reports

The Ecologist • 15th February 2010

Jatropha biofuels: UK investors sell controversial crop as 'green'

UK fund managers are selling investments in jatropha plantations as a wallet-swelling, planet-saving financial bonanza. But the reality for poor farmers is very different. Andrew Wasley reports

The Independent • 15th February 2010

Seeds of discontent: the 'miracle' crop that has failed to deliver

A "miracle" plant, once thought to be as the answer to producing renewable biofuels on a vast scale, is driving thousands of farmers in the developing world into food poverty, a damning report concludes today.

The Independent • 26th June 2009

Church accused of unethical investment in aluminium mine

The Church of England and one of Britain's leading charities have been revealed as shareholders in a London-based company behind a controversial aluminium mine in India which campaigners allege will wreak environmental destruction.

The Guardian • 17th August 2003

Snooker link to illegal logging

The Ecologist • 12th May 2009

UK-registered companies connected to controversial Canadian seal cull

The Canadian seal cull sees as many as 300,000 harp seals shot or clubbed to death for their fur and other byproducts, including oil, meat and body parts prized for aphrodisiac purposes.

The Observer • 28th March 2004

Revealed: UK zoos caught in rare wildlife trade with dealer

British zoos are trading in some of the world's most endangered species with a controversial wildlife dealer who has been condemned by European animal welfare groups.