Fair working conditions
The people who grow, harvest, and package our fruit and vegetables deserve to live decently, so we work closely with our growers to ensure their working conditions are fair and safe. Our growers conduct social audits to provide us with insight into working conditions. We see these audits as a first step in creating awareness, recognising challenges in working conditions and continuously working on improvement. Thanks to our joint efforts, 98% of our products are socially certified..
Responsible water management
We all need water, but it’s a scarce resource in many parts of the world. To alleviate this situation, we’re working with growers to make sure the water used to grow our exotic fruit and vegetables is managed responsibly. Together, we’re developing smart, sustainable ways to save and reuse water, to limit our impact on the environment. However, our efforts go beyond our work with growers; in areas where water use and availability are out of balance, we engage with stakeholders such as growers, communities, NGOs, and government authorities to make the ecosystem healthier and more resilient
Biodiversity
Natural ecosystems are an essential element in a sustainable food production system. Environmental protection is already included in the audits conducted by our growers. Together with our growers and public parties, we’re going to actively engage in protecting and strengthening nature in the coming years. After all, nature is the foundation of our food, our societies, and our economy, so we’re all jointly responsible for protecting natural values and helping them flourish. Our commitment is highlighted by the successful recent pilot of GLOBALG.A.P.'s Biodiversity Add-on at one of our growers. This monitors, improves and protects the most important aspects of field biodiversity, increases awareness and provides guidance in the development of an expanded biodiversity action plan.
Climate
Climate change is also affecting the areas our products are grown in, with extreme weather conditions and drought posing more and more challenges. At EAT ME, we accept our responsibility to reduce the impact on the climate. In the first place, this involves us looking at what we can do ourselves and in collaboration with our partners throughout the chain. We’re proud of what we’ve already achieved. We’ve significantly reduced food waste in our facilities; we use foodstuffs unsuitable for consumers in other ways, so that nothing goes to waste. 98% of all our packaging is recyclable, and we’re taking major steps towards mono-packaging and reducing plastic consumption.
We’re also studying what we can do outside our own facilities. Our new climate targets for 2030 include reducing emissions throughout the chain. Together with our partners, we’re also taking measures in the areas of cultivation, transport, packaging, and energy consumption. Our 2030 climate targets were validated by the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi), and contribute to the global goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C. It’s all part of our efforts to collaborate with others to ensure a future in which fruit and vegetables are healthy for both you and our planet.