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Soybean farming—providing protein-rich feed for farm animals worldwide—is the third largest driver of tropical deforestation and expanding. Importing economies are considering regulating the trade of soybeans and other deforestation-driving commodities, and trading companies will be required to conduct due diligence to ensure compliance. 

One of the biggest challenges in tackling deforestation is simply knowing where a batch of soy actually came from.

In this new paper, by combining stable isotope ratios and multi element profiles with Gaussian Process modelling, Rsearchers pinpointed the harvest origin of soybeans to within ~193 km across the main soy growing areas of South America.

This study (purchase required) shows the potential for stable isotope ratio analysis (SIRA) to be used to verify whether the cocoa in bean-to-bar chocolate originated from the Amazon region.  Higher-sugar chocolate is too complex a product to test in this way.  Such tests will be important for checking compliance with future EU Deforestation Regulations. The proposed method can also be used to estimate the cocoa content of chocolate.

Chocolate is a complex product in terms of its carbon isotope distribution.  Cocoa, from a C₃-photosynthetic plant, is its main raw material, while sugar from sugarcane (C₄-metabolism) is also commonly included. The authors analyzed the δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N composition of Brazilian chocolates, including Conventional, Bean-to-bar, and Imported brands across White, Milk, Semisweet, Dark <70 %, and Dark ≥70 % versions. They report that conventional White, Milk, and Semisweet chocolates showed no significant isotopic differences, with average δ¹³C values around −22 ‰, indicating high C₄-derived ingredient content. Bean-to-bar chocolates presented δ¹³C values 2–3 ‰ lower, and those made with Amazon cocoa were ∼1.5 ‰ lighter than those from Atlantic Forest, enabling accurate prediction of cocoa origin. Imported chocolates showed even lighter δ¹³C values, suggesting greater use of C₃-based ingredients. δ¹³C and δ¹⁵N values also enabled reliable estimation of cocoa content.

Photo by Boudhayan Bardhan on Unsplash