2014 Annual Report50
ISSUES, RESPONSES AND WAYS FORWARD
CONSUMERS OUR COMMERCIAL PARTNERS AND SUPPLIERS MILK PRODUCERS
Issues
Enhancing the value of our brands by faultless quality.
Providing clear information on the nutritional qualities and environmental impact of products.
Promoting sound and balanced diet.
Innovating to develop food specialties of high quality.
Building up mutually profitable relationships of confidence.
Contributing to our customers operational performance.
Associating our customers and suppliers with our performance targets.
Committing with our suppliers to corporate social responsibility.
Sharing our goals of quality, naturalness and responsibility.
Helping producers progress in the sustainable development of their farms and in know-how for their activity.
Support farmers adaptation after the end of milk quotas in 2015.
Ensuring the best added value possible for the milk that we buy.
Our responses
Developing products benefiting from recognized brands in which consumers have confidence.
Rigorously selecting raw materials.
Deploying quality policy based on ISO 9001 and food safety policy based on ISO 22000; in addition, depending on the market, BRC(¹) or IFS(²) type certifications complementing our established quality and safety arrangements.
Organizing panels of consumers, experts and staff trained in sensorial analysis and regularly monitoring products organoleptic quality.
Organizing consumer departments in close touch with customers and attentive to their expectations.
Providing precise and detailed nutritional information on every product.
Engaging in leading-edge research and developing advanced technologies to improve the nutritional qualities of our products.
Deploying recognizedly innovative category management on a large scale.
Designing innovative merchandising solutions.
Performing regular business reviews with our customers.
Providing relevant training for store cheese counter staff.
Providing information and training for food service professionals.
Engaging in a joint supply management approach with suppliers.
Organizing verification by an independent organization of the due application by our suppliers of corporate social responsibility criteria.
Applying a responsible purchasing charter.
Organizing forums to stimulate innovation.
Deploying Responsible Dairy Sourcing to reduce milk producers environmental impact whilst at the same time improving farming performance.
Organizing Open Days to present our approach and providing support via our dairy advisors.
Deploying our Charter for Best breeding Practices and training in best breeding practices.
Ensuring full milk traceability based on rigorous and systematic controls and commitment well in excess of our regulatory obligations.
Developing the production of foddage crops and more natural feeding of herds.
Providing information on issues associated with the dairy industry.
Generalizing the new contractual relationships with milk producers.
Providing assistance to young farmers setting up.
Ways forward
Developing environmental labeling for all products.
Extending the use of responsible communication best practices.
Optimizing digital applications to develop qualitative information for consumers.
Developing commercial innovation by being proactive.
Understanding the expectations and behavior of prospective buyers as a basis for optimizing commercial innovation.
Sharing our social and environmental responsibility criteria.
Contributing ever more to the implementation of sustainable dairy farming.
Promoting the adoption of reasoned farming practices designed to reduce farms environmental footprint.
Encouraging the production of milk of high nutritional quality.
(¹) BRC: British Retail Consortium. (²) IFS: International Food Standard.