European 'locally sourced' meat may be contributing to the destruction of South American forests

'Locally sourced' European meat may be responsible for deforestation in parts of of South America, an NGO has claimed.

Satellites images taken from Google Earth Engine show how soy production for animal feed is destroying South American rain forests.

In a , NGO Mighty said the European meat industry is partly at fault for the deforestation because it imports massive quantities of soy to feed livestock.

Members of the NGO travelled to soy plantations in Argentina and Paraguay to get an idea of how bad the ravages of the soy monoculture is.

They visited the Gran Chaco, which goes from northern Argentina to the west of Paraguay and south of Bolivia, and interviewed local communities that said herbicides used to irrigate the soy plantations poisoned their water sources and livestock.

"The dead animals weren't the worst," a local resident told Might Earth. "We suffered more. Most of the kids got sick. Everyone. I have a son, he's 19... a 15-year-old, a 3-year-old girl, and a 1-year-old boy. The youngest suffered the most." They experienced "skin rashes, stomach problems, and anemia," he said. "It resulted in the hospitalization of our children."

Anahita Yousefi, Campaign Director at Mighty Earth, told Euronews: "Twelve years ago Greenpeace did a campaign about the use of soy produced in the Amazonian rain forest being used by McDonald's. After that McDonald's adopted a moratorium on Amazonian soy. It's a good example of the impact we are looking for."

"Europe should improve the traceability of the animal food. There's a loophole in the EU regulations."

The NGO also spoke to experts who said deforestation was threatening the local biodiversity of the region, which is home to indigenous communities who have little contact with the outside world and depend on the forest to hunt and unique species like the hairy armadillo, jaguars, and the giant anteater.

Euronews has reached out to Carrefour - a European supermarket mentioned in the - and the European Feed Manufacturers' Federation for comment.