Many companies don’t report on food safety. We believe food safety is a fundamental business risk and our best in-class approach reflects this. We want to help our stakeholders understand the issues and how we’re moving them forward.
We go beyond regulation across the value chain to ensure we deliver the safest products. We also educate customers on safe food handling, going beyond our direct responsibility. In 2010, we’ve made significant progress in ensuring our private brand suppliers are audited against the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) standard.
What are we doing about food safety?
Benchmarking progress
In 2010 we completed a benchmarking of our companies’ food safety performance against industry standards. This, together with a best practice exchange, has driven Group-wide progress to date. Super Indo is a good example. Based on the benchmarking results, Super Indo is improving its recall system to reduce time taken to remove unsafe products from the shelf. The new goal ensures that each operating company will benchmark its performance by the end of 2012, enabling Group-wide monitoring and evaluation.
Procurement
Specifying the highest food safety requirements when procuring our private brands makes a big difference in managing their safety. These products make up more than 50% of our revenues in Belgium and more than 26% in the U.S. 82% of our suppliers’ production sites (for the Group) have now been audited to assure that food safety systems are in place and maintained. This makes us among “best-in- class” companies for our industry, and we’re proud of our work here.
That said, we struggled to certify 100% of our suppliers to GFSI standards. We initially planned to have completed certification by December 2010, but it is now an ongoing target. The main reasons for the delay in 100% certification are the lack of GFSI framework in some countries and the high costs of certification for small businesses. We will therefore continue to work towards the 100% goal over time. See our 2010 insight for more detail on how we manage food safety risks in procurement . Beyond auditing, we’re doing a great deal across the Group. Delhaize Belgium is training buyers on food safety. Hannaford is helping local growers prepare to meet the certification standards.
Distribution center and logistics
Transport conditions are a fundamental part of food safety. We go beyond legal compliance in all our markets. For example, Delhaize America’s food safety teams audit their own distribution centers over and above FDA and USDA audits and their standards. Delhaize Belgium is also going beyond legal requirements by certifying the auto control system in all company operated warehouses. This work started in 2010.
In stores
In 2010, 96% of our stores had external food safety audits conducted, up from 92% in 2008. We were on track to reach close to 100%, but largely due to store acquisitions completed late in 2010 we did not achieve this milestone.
For new acquisitions, we need to establish the systems and run training first. Only when these are in place can audits be conducted. Food safety is paramount in every store. While we don’t own affiliated stores (most of which are in Belgium) we work closely with them on food safety. To ensure product safety in all locations, we provide our affiliates with implementation support and free third-party audits. In the stores, we’re constantly improving our product recall system, which reduces the time needed to remove recalled products from the shelf. We also provide food safety tips to consumers. Click here to see more.
What do our stakeholders think about it?
It is my strong conviction that selling safe, healthy and affordable food products is the core responsibility of the Group. As far as I can see from the 2009 report, important efforts are being successfully made. The Group has to be commended for this and encouraged to proceed along these lines.
Professor Jan Vinck, University of Hasselt (Belgium)