Sustainable supply chain stories
The Better Tomorrow Plan is not only a strategy - it is the way we do business. Read our stories from the field to see how we bring our commitments to sustainable supply chain to life.
Dingley Dell's Freedom Foods pork
Mark and Paul Hayward produce Dingley Dell pork from their farm in the beautiful Deben Valley in Suffolk. A family business, Dingley Dell is known for its superb tasting regional pork and is just one of the RSPCA Freedom Food farms that supply Sodexo.
Specialists in breeding well cared for pigs, Dingley Dell proudly rear their livestock on a natural diet. Each pig leads a healthy, stress-free life on the farm and it is this continual attention to their welfare that has earned the farm the RSPCA Freedom Food accreditation. North American Duroc cross pigs accompanied with a gentle, natural lifestyle produce the distinctive succulent texture of Dingley Dell pork.
JEPCO, accredited salad growers
It provides all the whole head salad that Sodexo buys from Pauleys during the UK season (May to November).
The soil in the area is perfect for growing top quality salad leaves, with deep silt that retains water which means they do not need watering so often. The cooler weather of the area keeps aphid levels down too. Farms are spread over a fairly wide area to minimise the crop damaged by localised weather conditions such as frost and hail.
JEPCO is LEAF (Linking environment and farming) accredited. This means it is committed to working to enhance the natural environment and minimise its impact on it. Activities include crop rotation, reintroducing and cultivating reed beds, and encouraging wildlife proliferation through setting aside woodland. It is also part of the Countryside Stewardship Scheme which tracks the level of bird and insect numbers, key indicators of environmental health. In addition, they are Red Tractor, Nature's Choice and Field to Fork accredited.
Lodge Farm, Littleton on Severn, Gloucestershire
Lodge Farm nestles alongside the Severn estuary with 400 acres of prime agricultural land in picturesque rural Gloucestershire.
The farm has been in the Harraway family since the early 1960s. Together with his team of two, dairy farmer William Harraway cares for and milks 190 Holstein Friesian dairy cattle. The cows are milked twice a day through a traditional herringbone parlour. All the replacement animals are born and reared on the farm, which maintains the herd's 'closed' status. Around 35-40 young stock come into the herd each year and William values the additional biosecurity benefits this approach offers. The cows are fed a diet predominantly made up of grass and maize silage both of which are grown on the farm. The manure from the cattle is all used on the farm where it is ploughed back into the fields. This retains as much natural fertility in the ground as possible, which helps grow conservation crops for the milking herd.
The milk from Mr. Harraway's dairy farm is sold to Dairy Crest, a major Sodexo supplier.
Sodexo, first in food service to be MSC certified
Sodexo signed a worldwide agreement with the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) in June 2011.
Sodexo is now the leading foodservice supplier of MSC-certified fish in the UK with the largest number of MSC-certified lines listed and the largest number of sites certified.
Nicolas Guichoux, Regional Director for Europe at the MSC, said: “We are delighted to see one of world's largest foodservice companies make such a commitment to certified sustainable seafood.
Their leadership will contribute to transform the global seafood market to a sustainable basis, which is also MSC's top priority.”
Brendan Southworth is a Food Service Assistant for Sodexo. He shares his company's concern about sustainable fish, and says:
"We're depleting the ocean's fish stocks at the moment. I know tuna is in trouble.
It would be a terrible tragedy if future generations couldn't eat fish."
Nadia Almeida is a Catering Supervisor for Sodexo. She shares her company's concern about sustainable fish, and says:
"Looking after the oceans is crucial. I'm ashamed that more people don't care about it, I don't think people realise what's going on. We're all part of the same planet."
More information: read the worldwide agreement press release and visit the Marine Stewardship Council website.
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