Judging from our dialogues with our customers, how important is sustainability to them? When looking at sustainability through the lens of time, mankind as a whole, and more specifically the food industry, has made tremendous progress. In its initial phase only a few decades ago sustainability was almost seen as a burden. Then it became something nice and necessary to have whereas now the industry as a whole and an overwhelming majority of our customers consider sustainability a mission critical and a fully integrated part of their business models. We at AAK welcome this since sustainability is very close to our heart and fundamental to the way we conduct our business. Sustainability is not static, much more work needs to be done and therefore it is essential to realize that the evolution of sustainability is continuous. To stay ahead of the game, two aspects play a role of paramount importance. Firstly, we need to continue to listen very carefully to our customers, many of which play a key leadership role in this evolution and who co-define the future roadmap. Secondly, we need to continue to take responsibility and act. At AAK we want to be part of initiating and leading the debate but also to implement the necessary actions with a clear objective: to collectively progress towards a fully sustainable food value chain. What are the specific sustainability issues that our customers are interested in right now? We are witnessing a clear broadening of the scope that our customers are defining. Whereas focus initially was on the primary raw material supply chain and, for example, the preservation of High Carbon Stock rainforests, we now clearly hear the voices of our customers throughout the whole food value chain asking us to include in our sustainability programs aspects of securing the livelihood of smallholder farmers, improving the living conditions of communities and addressing the rights of women and children, to name a few. At AAK we are proud that our customers have recognized and confirmed that we have a very clear program and ambitious targets that will further cement our leadership position when it comes to sustainability. We will continue to work hard to maintain this. 10 How is AAK’s new product development affected by an increased consumer awareness of healthy food? This awareness plays a role in all product development projects within AAK. In fact, a number of our product development projects are driven mainly by the requirement of healthy and nutritional food, focusing on more nutritional balanced fatty acids profiles and more balanced energy intake. Other projects with a different focus also have a nutritional angle, as all product development ideas and projects are measured up against certain nutritional standards during the process, for example securing a continuously lower content of trans fatty acids in products within our portfolio. How is it affected by an increased consumer awareness of sustainable food? Sustainability is, just like health and nutrition, a major and global trend in our industry. We are committed to grow our business sustainably by constantly ensuring that our impact on nature, the environment and the societies in which we operate is limited or positive. In the development process this also means that all new products, processes and technologies are measured up against internal standards to ensure that their implementations will drive AAK in the direction of our objectives. Regional and national regulation also have an impact on AAK’s work. In what ways? When developing and producing food and food ingredients, differences in regional and national standards and regulations have to be taken into account, just as much as ancient local traditions which often are the basis for people’s food preferences. At AAK we work globally with complex processes and raw material supply chains covering major parts of the global market. We match our solutions with relevant market standards and regulations, and the customization of the final product to a specific solution is always conducted by our local product development resources, which have all relevant laboratory and pilot plant facilities at their disposal. Jan Lenferink President AAK Europe Karsten Nielsen Chief Technology Officer ” Sustainability – fully integrated in AAK ” Meeting consumers’ awareness of healthy and sustainable food
AAK - Sustainability Report 2014/2015
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