Food Processing Sector Supplement

Following the global trend in environmental awareness, paired with heightened consumer consciousness, food companies are increasingly facing new expectations and seeking to proactively communicate the economic, social and environmental performance of their businesses.

Food processing companies use the GRI Guidelines as a framework for disclosing their impacts in their sustainability reports. These impacts are many and varied due to the very nature of food production, at a community level. This means that food processors face unique needs that require specialized reporting guidance, in addition to the universally applicable core GRI Guidelines.

To support food processors with their distinctive reporting needs, GRI is convening a working group to develop a Food Processing Sector Supplement. This will provide a tool to make sure that reports effectively cover the key issues for the sector and enhance the comparability of reports.

The future GRI Food Processing Sector Supplement will cover reporting indicators common to the general food processing sector including supply chain management of different types of products like agricultural crops, seafood, meat, poultry, beverages and ingredients, while similarly addressing more specific indicators by type of food. GRI will work with food processors and other stakeholders on how to best define these indicators and sector specific guidance.

Overview of the Food Processing Sector Supplement development process

A working group of 18-20 people will primarily develop these sector specific reporting indicators but there is the opportunity for everyone to have their say during the various public comment periods.

Half of the working group will be drawn from the food processing sector, producing different types of products and coming from different parts of the world and the other half will consist of a range of different stakeholder groups from a cross section of geographic regions. So the guidance will be developed by both report readers and those producing sustainability reports.

The working group will propose, discuss, and refine the content of the Sector Supplement. They will then get feedback through a public comment period and then get the GRI Technical Advisory Committee to review and approve the sector guidance before it is released as a Sector Supplement draft. This process usually takes one year.

In the second year a Final Version including detailed indicator protocols will be developed depending on reporting expertise and feedback from stakeholders on the draft. Typically this takes three meetings in the second year.

The following companies have committed to participate in the development of these sector specific guidelines: