Transparency in Our Supply Chains
Awareness of labour issues in the seafood industry has increased in recent years through a number of high-profile media cases. Lack of traceability is a common key factor in these cases of forced and/or underage labour. Lovering Foods has a publicly stated commitment to 100% traceability in our full product range and continuously strives to mitigate risks of labour issues in our complex international supply chains.
Progress &
Due Diligence
Collaboration
To confront the issues facing our industry, we work closely with our suppliers and customers and partner with a number of external organisations. We are a Participating Company of the International Seafood Sustainability Foundation (ISSF), an interdisciplinary organisation work ing to improve sustainability and traceability in the tuna industry. Further, as active members of the Supplier Ethical Data Exchange (SEDEX), we track suppliers’ progress towards an independently verified ethical standard underpinned by the ETI Base Code. We use our variety of third - party connections to continuously develop, evaluate, and improve our internal policies and procedures.
Our Policies
Tuna makes up the majority of our trade and we have therefore focused
our initial efforts in this area of our business. We are currently enforcing
two relevant policies:
1. Sustainability Policy (2015)- This is publicly available on our website.
Click here to view our Sustainability Policy.
2. Tuna Sourcing Policy (2015)- This requires our tuna suppliers to increase transparency and traceability on the vessels they source from, including by
checking working standards on vessels at least yearly.
Training
The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Department is responsible for all aspects of ethical trade at Lovering Foods. As such, they maintain relationships with external organisations and attend relevant workshops and conferences, such as the ‘Stronger Together’ workshop on eliminating modern slavery from supply chains (London, August 2015) and the SEDEX conference ‘Simplifying Supply Chain Sustainability’ (London, March 2016). Information received from these workshops, important news regarding ethics and sustainability, and regular updates on the progress Lovering Foods has made is shared with all employees to ensure that staff are clear on our responsible sourcing goals. Further, as part of the induction process, new staff members are introduced to the policies discussed above and are made aware of the business’s values and practices as they relate to responsible sourcing.
Our Procedures
Lovering Foods is a SEDEX member and uses the SEDEX Advance platform to gain visibility of working conditions at processing sites. Currently, more than 75% of our suppliers are registered. Upon registration, a desktop audit called a ‘Self - Assessment Questionnaire’ (SAQ) is completed by the supplier. We then use customer specifications and risk assessment procedures to determine whether an on-site ethical audit is required. Sites identified as medium or high risk are required to conduct a SEDEX Members Ethical Trade Audit (SMETA) from a certified auditing body at a frequency determined by our customers, and, if necessary, will be given corrective measures to apply within a set timeframe.
Our dedicated Technical team ensures all products undergo a rigorous approval procedure before reaching our customers. This includes a variety of quality, food safety, and traceability verifications.
Next Steps....
From March 2017, we plan to expand the scope of our responsible sourcing policy to include our fruit, vegetable, and Oriental goods supply chains. We have decided to focus first on our seafood supply chains as this industry is of a higher risk.
Andres Reyes-Alzate,