Ethical Sourcing Statement

Ethical Sourcing Statement
Greggs is a much loved and trusted consumer Brand and we seek to retain that status by
demonstrating that we are a responsible company and strive to ‘do the right thing’ when it comes
to Ethical Sourcing.
What does Ethical Sourcing mean to Greggs?
At its heart, it’s about making sure our purchasing decisions are made as sustainably, ethically and
responsibly as possible within our commercial framework. It’s about ensuring that our supply needs
are produced and delivered in a way that avoids abuse or exploitation of workers, animals and the
environment. This means we consider the wider implications of our business decisions when making
sourcing choices.
We acknowledge that we are not large enough as a business to drive significant change on our own
in the UK and worldwide supplier base. We always seek, however to continuously drive
improvements and we positively support the actions of others through the adoption of industry
accepted standards. We have a commitment to our customers, people and shareholders to
maintain our reputation for great value products. Inevitably there will be occasions where
commercial considerations will conflict with ethical sourcing concerns – we recognise this and will
seek to achieve a balanced outcome in our decision making. However, the area on which we will
never compromise is the use of quality ingredients - our customers can have confidence that our
food contains high quality ingredients that have been sourced and produced in line with good
practice.
What We Do
We seek to source all our requirements (food, ingredients and other consumables) in a ‘responsible’
way, and in line with our Values. We have focused our commitment to sourcing on 7 key areas:
 Quality;
 Animal Welfare;
 Sourcing & Sustainability;
 Environment;
 People;
 Relationships With Suppliers;
 Ethics.
Quality
In line with our vision ‘to be a winning brand in the food-on-the-go market’, we are passionate about
providing great tasting bakery food and we only source quality ingredients for our products.
What’s In Our Food?
 All the products we make ourselves are:
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Free from artificial colours
Free from artificial flavours
Free from added trans fats
Free from hydrogenated fats
Free from genetically modified ingredients
How Do We Monitor Our Suppliers?
 All our suppliers1 are risk assessed on a regular basis, covering both technical and
commercial risks, while our suppliers are risk assessed on a bi-annual basis.
 We carry out regular audits to ensure the standard/quality of products and manufacturing
processes are at an acceptable level.
 All Category 1 supplier factories are BRC accredited or accredited to a Greggs recognised
equivalent standard.
Animal Welfare
We require our suppliers to properly rear, care for and handle animals, complying with accepted
animal husbandry practices and current EU and source country legislation. We will not compromise
this stance for commercial gain.
We endeavour to ensure our sourcing is consistent with this Greggs Ethical Sourcing Statement, and
we are committed to continuously review our stance and move forward on welfare issues in line
with our customers’ expectations.
We have developed a comprehensive Farm Animal Welfare Strategy which details our policies on:
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Close Confinement and Intensive Farming
Avoidance on Growth Promoting Substances
Surgical Interventions
Pre-Slaughter Stunning
Live Transport
Genetically Engineered and Cloned Livestock/Poultry
Sourcing
Our ethos is to support our local communities. This includes sourcing quality food, ingredients,
products and other services from local and national companies, tradesman and suppliers. Our
preferred choice is to source from local and national suppliers, provided we can guarantee the
quality that our customers expect from our products at an affordable price. In some instances the
best quality and value raw materials are provided from overseas sources. In these cases we make
certain that our ethical sourcing values are strictly maintained to equivalent and often higher than
local sourcing options.
Sustainability
1
Greggs classifies its suppliers in a 1 to 3 scale defined by a risk assessment process. Category 1 covers ‘high
care’ products such as meat, cheese, egg, milk etc.
Sustainable Fishing
Through our partnership with our tuna supplier, we only source Skipjack tuna and not endangered,
at risk species (such as Yellow Fin, Blue Fin or Bigeye) from a designated geographic region. Fishing
is not via drift nets or long line methods and we are committed to move to 100% ‘FAD-free’ or ‘Pole
and Line’ fishing by 2016.
Our prawns are sourced from a designated geographic area and our supplier is Marine Stewardship
Council (MSC) certified.
Sustainable Palm Oil
The past few decades have seen rapid expansion in the production of palm oil. This expansion has
put pressure on the environment and on societies where the palm is grown. We have already
converted 100% of our boxed palm oil needs to Certified Sustainable Palm Oil (CSPO) and we require
all of our suppliers of bakery fats that use palm oil to be members of the Roundtable on Sustainable
Palm Oil (RSPO). Over 80% of our total boxed bakery palm oil needs are now from CSPO sources and
in line with the rest of the industry we plan to have all of our boxed, bakery Palm Oil provided from
sustainable sources by the end of 2014.
Environment
Society in general, through growing population, climate change issues and unsustainable farming/
fishing practices, is facing potential threats to food security. If we are to continue to offer our
customers quality bakery food at great value prices, we need to ensure the sustainability of our
business, and this includes considering the environmental impacts of our supply chain.
Where we have become aware of environmental concerns connected with ingredients, goods and
services from suppliers, our first aim will be to work with the supplier to find a solution to the
problem. This is demonstrated by our commitments on Tuna and Palm Oil (see above).
Within our Social Responsibility strategy we have a clear commitment to have a 25% reduction in
our carbon footprint by 2015.
We do operate an Environmental Management system and our intention is have this independently
audited and certified to ISO 14001 (2007) in 2015.
People
We never forget that it is our people who make us a successful company - the pride and pleasure
they clearly take in their work is a key point of difference for Greggs. That is why we want all our
people to feel individually valued and cared for, and for each person to share in the Company’s
success. While not directly under our control, this aim goes beyond our own 20,000 people to
include those employed by our supplier partners.
While not signatories to the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), our plans include the addition of the
principles of the ETI base code into our supplier selection and auditing processes. Suppliers are
expected to ensure that:

Working conditions are safe and hygienic and that safety is effectively managed within their
business
 Employment is freely chosen and no forced or bonded labour is used
 Labour practices do not involve the harsh or inhumane treatment of employees
 Exploitative child labour is not used
 Fair and reasonable wages are paid to employees and working hours are not excessive
 Their employees’ rights to trade union membership and collective bargaining are respected
 No discrimination is practised
We are able to make a positive difference through our commitment to purchasing Fairtrade
products. By sourcing Fairtrade goods, we are able to support marginalised producers in developing
countries by guaranteeing a minimum price and a Fairtrade premium. This secure income allows
producers to plan for a more sustainable future and also, in turn, to support their local communities
through investment in local schools, health care and infrastructure.
Currently our Fairtrade products include:
 Tea
 Coffee
 Orange Juice
 Apple Juice
 Drinking Chocolate
 Sugar Sachets
Relationships With Suppliers
Our suppliers are our partners and without them we could not deliver quality bakery food to our
customers. In line with our values of being open and honest, and treating everyone with fairness,
consideration and respect, we will:
 Always value the contribution of our suppliers
 Never mislead our suppliers to gain commercial advantage
 Ensure all suppliers are considered equally on their merits
 Keep to our standard terms and conditions regarding supplier payments
 Be a signatory to the Prompt Payment Code
 Consider the potential impact of our actions on our suppliers
 Keep our suppliers informed of any changes in purchasing decisions to mitigate potential
impacts
Ethics
We have ‘Anti-Bribery & Corruption’ and ‘Business Conduct’ policies in place to ensure our Values
are reflected in our purchasing policies and in our dealings with everyone with whom we do
business.