Corporate Social Responsibility
Fyffes is aware of the social and environmental issues associated with the products that it sources and sells, particularly as a large proportion of its fresh produce supplies originate in developing countries. The Group addresses this aspect of its operations in a number of ways:
Codes of Best Practice
The Group has established Codes of Best Practice with which it requires its direct banana and pineapple suppliers to comply. These are designed to reduce the impact of agricultural production on the environment and to ensure safe working conditions and fair treatment for workers in compliance with internationally accepted labour standards. Compliance with the Codes is generally monitored on a six-monthly basis and our internal review procedures are subject to regular independent evaluation.
Ethical Trading Initiative
Fyffes is a member of the UK government-sponsored Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI). The ETI is an alliance of companies, non-governmental organisations and labour representative bodies. Its purpose is to promote and improve the conditions of workers worldwide who produce products for sale in the UK market. All of the Group’s tropical management team and many of our banana and pineapple suppliers have received formal training in this regard.
Global GAP accreditation
Fyffes is a founder member of Global GAP (formerly the European Retailers Environmental Protocol (EUREP)), established by major food retailers and their suppliers across Europe to address consumer concerns about food safety, environmental protection and worker welfare and to promote safe and sustainable agriculture. An extensive range of guidelines has been published on these matters, resulting in the Global Good Agricultural Practice (Global GAP). This standard establishes the minimum requirements to be met by growers of fruit and vegetables that supply European retailers. Fyffes first achieved Global GAP accreditation in 2003, in respect of the majority of the banana and pineapple farms from which it takes direct supplies, and this is renewed annually.
Through these and other social responsibility measures, Fyffes aims to provide the finest quality produce, produced under the safest working conditions, following the fairest labour practices and with the minimum environmental impact. The Group is pro-active in these matters and actively participates in industry forums on social, ethical, health and safety and environmental issues. In addition, Fyffes is satisfied that it has appropriate risk management procedures in place to ensure it complies with the highest standards in relation to food safety regulations.