ZURICH, Switzerland – The Round Table on Responsible Soy Association (RTRS) announced the recent addition of Tyson Foods Inc. and Restaurant Brands International (RBI) as members of the organization in its Industry, Trade and Finance constituency. RTRS promotes responsible production, processing and trading of soy on a global level and its members represent all parts of the soy value chain and members of civil society from around the world.

As part of its commitment to RTRS, Springdale, Arkansas-based Tyson plans to enhance the sustainability of its supply chain specific to animal feed, according to Maggie Jo Hansen, Tyson’s senior commodity analyst, international and sustainability. “We will acquire RTRS certified material for the soybean meal used to feed chickens in our supply chain, which generally comes from areas identified as ‘high risk,’ she said. “In addition, we hope to identify other opportunities to work with RTRS in order to guarantee sustainable soy practices globally.”

For Toronto-based RBI, parent company of Tim Hortons, Burger King and Popeyes, joining the association was a step toward achieving its sustainability goals in the next decade.

“RBI made a commitment to eliminating deforestation from its global supply chain by 2030 and much remains to be done with many of our suppliers,” said Natalie Pecile, RBI’s sustainability manager. “We decided to join RTRS in order to understand which is the best way to turn commitments into action.”

Tyson and RBI were two of seven organizations to join RTRS in the last quarter of 2019. Others included: Vall Cos., an integrated livestock company in Spain and Portugal; Avena Nordic Grain Oy, a leading trader of grains and oilseeds in Finland; Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a non-profit international organization that promotes companies and governments to protect the environment; Brazil’s Institute for Forest and Agricultural Management and Certification; and Geofarm Precision Agriculture, an agronomic consultancy, also based in Brazil.