Fecha de publicación: 14/11/2024 Fuente: Food Processing GNT, a family-owned company focused on the creation of plant-based, sustainable ingredients, has earned its first EcoVadis gold medal for environmental and ethical activities.

The recognition, for the company behind the EXBERRY brand of colour solutions, ranks the company among the top 3% in the food manufacturing industry.

The company has set out a commitment to lead the food colouring industry on sustainability, with the EXBERRY brand of colours created from fruit, vegetables and plants.

GNT has used EcoVadis, a globally recognised provider of business sustainability ratings, to verify its performance and identify areas for improvement since 2017.

After achieving a silver medal last year, GNT has now secured a gold ranking for the first time. EcoVadis awarded a total of 78 out of 100 points, placing GNT in the 97th percentile among food manufacturing businesses to have undertaken the evaluation.

As a part of the recognition process, the company’s work was assessed across four key areas, including environment, labour, human rights, ethics and sustainable procurement. The key factors in the gold ranking included: transparent reporting, including an independent Greenhouse Gas Verification Statement; new initiatives to support employee training, health and safety, and working conditions throughout the value chain; a new Code of Conduct; and a policy to support whistleblowers.

Rutger de Kort, Sustainability Manager at GNT Group, said the EcoVadis gold medal is an important industry benchmark that is used by many of the world’s leading companies to assess their suppliers’ sustainability credentials.

In 2022, GNT set out 17 sustainability targets to optimise its environmental and social impacts over the course of the current decade. The company achieved 22% reduction in carbon intensity at the EXBERRY factories since 2020 and a 13% improvement in water efficiency.

In addition, the contract farmers working as part of GNT’s supply chain have all received training in sustainable agriculture, with 74% achieving a minimum of Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) silver standard.

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