Take the first bite of the Food Processing Sector Supplement

This is the first opportunity to share your insight and thoughts on the draft indicators, so make sure to have a taste before the survey ends on 19 September 2008.

As the Sector specific reporting guidance will be integrated with the GRI G3 Reporting Guidelines, we would advise you to consult them and keep them in mind while reading the survey.

Please participate in the Food Processing Sector Supplement survey, your feedback will be highly appreciated!

Food Processing Sector Supplement

The global trend in environmental awareness, paired with heightened consumer consciousness, sees food companies increasingly facing new expectations.  Many are now seeking to proactively communicate the economic, environmental and social 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, and due to the very nature of food production, have a likelihood to affect the community. 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 food type. 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 20 experts is currently developing sector specific reporting indicators for the Food Processing sector, but the opportunity to have a say during the public comment periods is open for everyone concerned with the sustainability performance of the Food Processing Sector.

Half of the Working Group is drawn from the Food Processing sector, who produce a variety of products in diverse regions, and the other half consists of a range of different stakeholder groups, also from a cross-section of geographic regions.

The Working Group is in the process of discussing and refining the input and will eventually propose a draft Sector Supplement. Feedback will be sought through public comment and, as a last step, the GRI Technical Advisory Committee and Board will need to approve the sector guidance before it is released as a Sector Supplement.

The following companies are participating in the development of these sector specific guidelines:

Archer Daniels Midland (USA), Bunge (Brazil), Danisco (Denmark), General Mills (USA), Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (USA), Interface Trading (Senegal), Nestlé (Switzerland), Tyson Foods (USA), Wilmar (Singapore) and Young’s Seafood (UK).

And the following stakeholder organisations:

CIWF (Compassion in World Farming), Crédit Agricole Asset Management (France), EIRIS (Ethical Investment Research), FNV Bondgenoten (labor), Health and nutrition specialist New York University, IFAT (International Fair Trade Organization), IFAP (International Farmers Association), IUCN,  and WWF, children advocacy (Pakistan).