SPECIAL REPORT: Sustainable Ingredients: The Ethics of Food

31 Oct 2016 --- The question of whether investing in sustainability is a good business move may have hung heavy in the air over the last few years, but 2016 has firmly cemented it as a key driver for the entire food and beverage industry, as supply chains all over the world get serious on the subject.

Sustainability is no longer just a buzzword; from multi-nationals to medium-sized businesses and startups, stacking up the company’s sustainability credentials is vital to appeal to today’s discerning consumer who, more than ever, are concerned about where their food comes from and the environmental and ethical impact it has.

As deputy coordinator of Sustain, the alliance for better food and farming Ben Reynolds, tells FoodIngredientsFirst: “We are seeing that people increasingly want to know about the ethics of what they’re eating – how and where it has been produced, how the animals and people involved in this production have been treated – and are willing to pay for this.”

“With Government on the whole unwilling to provide the leadership to ensure that our food meets the standards that more are demanding of their food, this has meant the continuing rise of ethical certification and standards, such as Fairtrade and Organic. This is where businesses have taken real leadership in responding to this demand and market opportunity.”

Reynolds cites an example in the UK’s fresh fish sector, where new sustainable practices were prompted because of concerns that British waters will be depleted of fish stocks.

“We’ve seen businesses taking leadership on some of the issues we work most closely on, such as our Sustainable Fish Cities program, which has got pledges from over 200 caterers serving over 600 million meals around the UK, committing to removing endangered fish from their menu and serving only demonstrably sustainable fish.”

“This means that in places like Bournemouth [a UK coastal city], the majority of fish eaten out of the home will be sustainable. Similarly with our Real Bread Campaign, over 180 bakeries around the country now use ‘The Real Bread Loaf Mark,’ in order to show customers that their bread is additive free.”

As businesses take the lead to push the sustainability agenda, industry professionals know they have to tell their sustainability story to consumer groups or face the consequences of not getting the right marketing message across or even worse, not taking sustainability serious in the first place. 

One case in point is what happened recently with IOI Loders Croklaan because it was perceived as having a bad track record in sourcing palm oil, culminating in a suspension from the Roundtable of Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). The suspension concerned three subsidiaries that allegedly violated a raft of RSPO standards that are meant to prevent rainforest destruction, social conflict and some laws. 

However, thanks to the company’s new sustainability policy things are now changing, the suspension has been lifted and IOI has pledged a stronger commitment and is even calling on fellow industry players “to come together and reach agreement on solutions that will lead to a truly sustainable supply of one of the world’s most commonly used commodities.”

Meanwhile, Olam International recently became the first company to receive verifications from the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), including the first-ever African working plantation to become certified. Olam Palm Gabon has been embedding sustainability in its palm oil operations and wants to be recognized as ambassadors for sustainability in Africa in order to keep pace with the growing demand for sustainable palm oil around the world.

“Customer demand for sustainable palm oil is rapidly increasing and RSPO is targeting 100 percent uptake of certified oil in Europe alone by 2020. Ensuring we are certified is therefore not just the right thing to do but makes sound business sense. Africa is the home of oil palm and many think it does not have the necessary infrastructure or governance to support high international standards. This certification shows what can be achieved for any new or old palm plantation development on the continent,” says Ranveer Chauhan, Managing Director and CEO of Palm Oil and Natural Rubber at Olam International.

Brexit Presents New Sustainability Opportunities & Challenges
Sustain also questions the implications Brexit will have on sustainability and raises concerns about the uncertainty of the supply of ingredients and labor posed by Britain exiting the European Union. 

“In order to ensure the continued supply of food that meets these standards we need more leadership to tackle long term challenges such as climate change, and finite sources of key inputs to farming. This is compounded by the uncertainty of supply of ingredients and labor posed by Brexit. With Government unwilling to take the lead, how can businesses working with NGOs and communities grasp this opportunity to, for example, ensure that the UK can supply more skilled labor and alternative supplies of ingredients from its own shores?,” adds Reynolds.

Clear Labels & Certification 
Labeling and certification are obviously vital for sustainable-friendly product promotion and amongst those leading the charge is ethical and sustainable pioneer, the Fairtrade Foundation. From cocoa to coffee, tea to bananas, Fairtrade Foundation CEO Michael Gidney tells FoodIngredientsFirst about the importance of ethics and organics and backs up what Reynolds says about Brexit presenting new opportunities to further push the sustainability agenda in new trade deals. 

“We now drink twice as much coffee as tea – it has become the UK’s most popular hot drink this year. We are a nation of chocolate lovers. And bananas are one of our favorite fruits. We all want to continue enjoying these daily essentials, but the future sustainability of many of these products is seriously at risk,” he says. 

“Globally millions of farmers remain trapped in a cycle of poverty; suffering from volatile prices they can barely make ends meet, let alone invest in their farms and become ever more vulnerable to the threats of a changing climate.”

“Consumers clearly care about the ethics and provenance of the products they buy – we’ve seen continuing support for Fairtrade and increasing sales for organic goods – but they are also telling the government and businesses to do more. A recent survey showed 92 percent of shoppers felt companies should take responsibility for fairly and sustainably produced food, whilst 85 percent said they expected the government to take a lead. And they recognize they can use their purchasing power to achieve this: 58 percent say they are willing to pay more for the assurance of a fairer deal for farmers and workers.”

“So now, as Brexit paves the way for new trade deals to be negotiated, we’d like the government to rise to the challenge to drive better, fairer, more sustainable trade, helping businesses build traceable and transparent supply chains. But ultimately producers must be rewarded with a decent living for the hard work that they do.”

by Gaynor Selby