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The Balance of Health
Environment

Claim

More than three-quarters of the world's soy is fed to livestock; only around 7% is eaten directly by people.

Soy grown for tofu and soy milk is a small slice of the total. Most soy feeds chickens, pigs and cows.

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Status
sample

Sample data. The figures and sources on this page are demonstration records showing how evidence will be presented. They are approximate and have not yet been through our review process. Read about how we will verify evidence.

Strong evidenceHow ratings work

Why this rating: Trade and production data from FAO and supply-chain trackers agree on the broad split.

Supported by multiple systematic reviews or large, consistent studies using different methods, with few plausible alternative explanations.

77%
Share of global soy used as animal feedGlobal, 2021. Source: Ritchie (2021). SampleIncludes soy meal after oil extraction. Roughly 7% goes directly to human foods such as tofu and soy milk.

Explanation

Most soybeans are crushed into oil and meal. The meal, which is most of the bean by weight, goes to animal feed.

Soy for direct human food is a small share, and most of it is not grown in deforestation frontiers.

Limitations
  • How to allocate impacts between oil and meal is a judgement call that affects exact percentages.
Methodology
  • FAO food balance sheets and supply-chain data (Trase) on soy end uses.

Sources for this claim

Each source links to our record of what it found, its limitations and what we used it for, with a link to the original.

  1. 1
    Drivers of deforestation: soy, and what it is used for

    Hannah Ritchie (2021). Our World in Data.

    ReportReviewModerate evidenceSampleView original ↗