Leaders
Go to this month’s Tracker on page 32 for a full list of companies that have recently issued sustainability
Westbury Street Holdings has made a commitment to use only free range eggs produced by well cared for hens
1M kilos a year – comes only from farms located within the UK.
According to a new report from Consumer Research Group Mintel, ani- mal welfare tops the list of Britain’s food concerns with as many as 40% of Britons worried about the issue. “More and more consumers are concerned about welfare improvements in local farming as well as the ecological and health impacts of using battery chicken cages,” said Alastair Storey, Westbury Street Holdings’ CEO. “These consumers are the same people who go to work in offices and who study at schools and colleges every day. “As the caterer we have a duty to respond to their concerns and provide them with meals that address their food choices when we are feeding them during the day and where they are not necessarily in control of the ingredients that are put in their lunch.
Westbury Street Holdings, parent to the food service companies BaxterStorey, Caterlink and Holroyd Howe, will only be using free range eggs for the 800 sites for which it caters. The companies, which between them currently use 7.5M eggs a year will source all eggs from a single, independent, third gen- eration family-owned farm, Staveley’s Eggs in Chorley, Lancashire.
In a break from usual industry practice, which sees contract catering companies reg- ularly using eggs conforming only to mini- mum animal welfare standards, Westbury Street Holdings is making a public commit- ment to procure only fresh eggs that exceed current regulations for animal husbandry. The move precedes new EU legislation that is scheduled to come into force across Europe in 2012 banning the production of eggs using chickens kept in battery cages.
And the three companies and their 9,000 strong teams are keen to ensure that all of their fresh eggs are coming from chickens that are well cared for in accordance with the RSPCA’s Freedom Food standards. This latest move follows last year’s pledge to put in place a supply chain to ensure that all of the fresh meat they use – over
18 | Sustainable Business | October 2010
“We serve 25M meals a year. Sourcing our free range eggs from one farm gives the people who dine in the restaurants we man- age the confidence to know that we can pin- point the exact origins and pedigree of the food they are eating. This is a decision that we are proud to announce and it’s a move that will benefit our clients, customers and the UK farming industry.” According to statistics released by Compassion In World Farming (CIWF) there are currently over 300M egg-laying hens in the EU, 26M of those are in the UK. Over half of the UK egg-laying hens are confined to barren battery cages. Intensive battery farming leads to many hens suffering from serious ailments, including the brittle bone condition osteo- porosis. This contributes to about half a millions deaths amongst hens in their cages across the EU each year.
Steve McIvor, director of food business at Compassion in World Farming, said: “It is very positive to see a commercial company which plays such an important part in feed- ing the UK population taking the welfare of laying hens so seriously by ensuring that the eggs they serve are free-range. “Their move will benefit 27,000 hens per year and we hope to see other companies following from their lead.”
baxterstorey.com
A supply agreement with Unimills for hardstocks based on sustainable palm oil has won plaudits for manufacturer Unilever
The global consumer goods company, Unilever has teamed up with Unimills, one of Europe’s biggest suppliers of natural veg- etable oil-based ingredients, by announcing a long-term supply agreement for hardstocks based on segregated certified sustainable palm oil (CSPO).
Unimills sources the segregated CSPO solely from its parent company, Sime Darby, which is the world’s largest producer of sustainable palm oil and whose plantations in Malaysia are certified by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO). The segre- gated CSPO is processed into specialty fats, such as hardstocks, which will then be sent to Unilever to be used in its various food products. “This agreement marks another important milestone in our journey to using 100% sustainable palm oil,” said Marc Engel, Unilever’s chief procurement officer. “We see in Sime Darby a likeminded partner who is as dedicated to operating sustainably and responsibly as we are. We are both founding members of the RSPO and we work closely together on our sustainable journey.” He added that Unilever is ahead of its plan to source all of its palm oil from certified sustainable sources by 2015, with over 35% already being RSPO certified this year. “Hopefully, many customers will follow Unilever’s example,” said Alexander van der Klauw, managing director of Unimills. From now on, Unimills expects regular shipments of segregated CSPO to arrive from Malaysia every month for supply to Unilever and other customers.
unilever.co.uk
Unilever is ahead of its plan to source all of its palm oil from certified sustainable sources
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