BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
The New Hampshire Liquor Commission (NHLC) and Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey have teamed up to offer tips and techniques to emphasize safe and responsible alcohol consumption for this holiday season. The award-winning Live Free & Host Responsibly campaign offers holiday-themed food and drink recipes, along with videos outlining techniques for responsible entertaining.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Thai Union Group PCL, one of the world’s leading and likely most contentious seafood companies, today announced an ambitious strategy to ensure 100 percent of its branded tuna is sustainably sourced with a commitment of achieving a minimum of 75 percent by 2020.
As part of the new tuna strategy, Thai Union says it will invest $90m in initiatives that will increase the supply of sustainable tuna. This includes establishing 11 new Fishery Improvement Projects (programs to transform fisheries that ensure sustainable fish stocks, minimized environmental impacts, and improved management of the fisheries, or FIPs) around the world.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
The importance of minimizing food waste is nearly as universally understood as the importance of good health. But in both cases, it’s easy to convince yourself that you’re doing a better job than you really are.
Put yourself in the shoes of someone looking to shed a few pounds. You might decide to go to a 5-day fitness boot camp. Even if you achieve your desired weight during that intensive period, you wouldn’t expect to maintain any gains if you went back to your old ways after, would you? It is exactly the same with food-waste prevention programmes in your business — it requires adopting a daily routine, as well as changing your diet.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
Reducing global food waste seems to be on everyone’s mind these days, and two young health food brands — Barnana and Wonky Juice — are looking to address the issue at the source, giving misshapen fruits and vegetables new life and boosting local economies.
Fact: Bananas are the number-one wasted food product in the world, with fifty percent of all bananas grown going to waste. Caue Suplicy, founder of organic banana snack brand Barnana, is hoping to change that.
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
Nestlé SA has developed a process to alter the structure of sugar that makes it taste sweeter in smaller amounts, which could help the food giant respond to increasing pressures from governments, health advocates and shoppers to make products healthier without compromising on taste.
COLLABORATION -
Sustainable food initiatives aimed at tackling food waste and climate change are sweeping through Europe and the UK, and the latest example comes in the form of a partnership between the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) UK and global catering and facilities firm Sodexo.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) has voted unanimously to update U.S. organic standards to exclude ingredients derived from next-generation genetic engineering and gene editing.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
When Japanese brewer Kirin launched its Creating Shared Value (CSV) Division in 2013, the link between competitive advantage and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) was a relatively new concept, and Kirin was the first corporation in Japan to institute CSV management. Masaya Hayashida, who spearheads Kirin’s CSV division as executive officer and general manager, states plainly that he is not interested in hypothetical arguments over CSR or CSV. He’s practical, and Kirin’s CSV pursuit of social & economic value has come to fruition in the form of a community-based approach.
PRESS RELEASE -
Watch the Video Here.
SAN FRANCISCO, November 30, 2016 - Sustainable Brands® joins forces with the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative (MUFI) and BASF to debut a mixed-use urban agriculture development project today. A new Community Resource Center in Detroit’s lower North End is the result of business leaders in the Sustainable Brands community collaborating to redefine growth and development models in urban communities.
PRESS RELEASE -
The Michigan Urban Farming Initiative (MUFI) is debuting America’s first sustainable urban agrihood, an alternative neighborhood growth model in Detroit’s lower North End that positions agriculture as the centerpiece of a mixed-use urban development.
Totaling about three acres and nestled in a neighborhood among vacant land, occupied and abandoned homes, MUFI’s urban agrihood features a bustling two-acre urban garden, a 200-tree fruit orchard, a children’s sensory garden, and more. Annually, the urban garden provides fresh, free produce to about 2,000 households within two square miles of the farm.
SUPPLY CHAIN -
B2B chocolate giant Barry Callebaut has pledged to lead the charge to 100 percent cocoa and chocolate sustainability by 2025. This week, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-quality chocolate and cocoa products launched “Forever Chocolate,”a comprehensive sustainability strategy with four main goals that address the key sustainability challenges in the chocolate supply chain, namely to:
ORGANIZATIONAL CHANGE -
Modern global nutritional problems derive from food excess as well as food shortage. Traditionally a first-world problem, obesity is now spreading to developing countries. Individual countries and companies are responding to the Sustainable Development Goal to improve nutrition. One unique employee cafeteria has sparked a huge movement to improve nutrition in Japan.
BEHAVIOR CHANGE -
Alcohol and spirits giant Diageo has unveiled “Decisions,” a first-of-its-kind virtual reality (VR) experience that puts consumers of legal drinking age in the middle of a fatal drunk driving crash. This launch is Diego’s latest effort to educate and meaningfully impact consumers about the importance of responsible decision-making when drinking.
PRODUCT, SERVICE & DESIGN INNOVATION -
As we head into the most gluttonous week of the year here in the U.S., it’s helpful to be reminded that companies large and small continue to churn out new technologies in the ongoing war against food waste – both at the business and consumer level.
PRESS RELEASE -
PepsiCo Latin America and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) in Latin America announced "Water for the Planet," a new collaboration that will work to replenish five different watersheds for the urban areas of Mexico City, Monterrey, São Paulo, Guatemala City and Bogotain the next seven years.
WASTE NOT -
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Gina McCarthy have recognized 15 U.S. businesses and organizations pledging concrete steps to reduce food loss and waste in their operations 50 percent by 2030, as recommended by the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
PRESS RELEASE -
Avery Dennison has collaborated with partners throughout the supply chain namely Viridor and PET UK, to help Coca-Cola European Partners (CCEP) reduce waste, costs, and the carbon footprint of Smartwater production in the United Kingdom.
According to Joe Franses, Director of Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability at Coca-Cola European Partners, “This example shows how we can turn the crisis of resources into a business opportunity through close collaboration across the value chain. Businesses which can be truly innovative with the products and services they provide, optimising the resources they use and encouraging consumers to do the same, have the potential to transform our economy.”
CHEMISTRY, MATERIALS & PACKAGING -
All over the world, new ideas are changing mankind’s relationship with food. From the Svalbard Global Seed Vault to the “ugly food movement,” ideas big and small are making an impact. To uncover such stories, Tetra Pak® has launched a new digital platform called Groundwork.
WASTE NOT -
UK retailer Sainsbury’s has unveiled its latest move in the fight against food waste, by announcing a £1 million fund available to towns and cities across the United Kingdom. The commitment is the second phase of its Waste Less, Save More strategy - a five-year plan designed to help households save money by reducing food waste in the UK.
MARKETING AND COMMS -
Earlier this year, yogurt giant Dannon announced new sustainable agriculture and non-GMO commitments. Now, farm organizations have decided that food companies 'jumping on the anti-GMO bandwagon' cannot go unchallenged.