General Mills — Saving The Planet One Box Of Cereal At A Time

By Sam Lewis

Food giant pledges sustainability in 100 percent of top ten ingredients by 2020

General Mills announced on Wednesday, Sept 25 its furthered commitment to sustainability. The giant food company states it will sustainably source 100 percent of its top 10 priority food ingredients by the year 2020. This is quite the ambitious undertaking, as these ingredients represent half of General Mills’ purchases of raw materials.

The company wants to further its mission to protect and conserve the resources upon which its business stands. It started by identifying the raw materials which would have the biggest impact from a sourcing position. “We also know where we can have the greatest impact from an environmental standpoint. We believe that through sustainable sourcing, we can create the most long-term economic, environmental, and social value,” says Jerry Lynch, vice president and chief sustainability officer at General Mills.

Obviously, cereal is the company’s go-to product, so wheat, oats, and corn will be huge in these raw materials. Also included are palm oil, vanilla, cocoa, corn, eggs, fiber packaging, and sugar (from sugar cane as well as sugar beets). All these ingredients are specific to certain geographies, so General Mills will need to source them using many different approaches to maintain its statement of protection and sustainability. Here are the goals the company has in mind:

-All oats, wheat, and corn will be sourced from regions that are growing and demonstrate on-going improvement against industry-based environmental metrics, Field-to-Market framework, or comparable environmental metrics.

-Milk will be directly sourced from regions demonstrating continuous improvement as measured by the Dairy Sustainability Framework in the U.S., or comparable environmental metrics globally.

-All cocoa and vanilla will come from origin-direct investment. This will improve incomes of smallholder farms.

-By 2015, all palm oil will be sourced from responsible and sustainable sources.

-All sugar cane will come from responsible and sustainable sources.

-All beet sugar will be sourced from regions that are growing and demonstrate continuous improvement against industry-based environmental metrics, Field-to-Market framework, or comparable environmental metrics.

-All fiber packaging will come from recycled material, or from virgin wood fiber regions that are known to not be contributing to deforestation. All high-risk regions will be independently verified.

General Mills will also continue to support the humane treatment of animals in agriculture. It will do so by supporting an animal welfare policy which covers pork, milk, and egg production, antibiotic use in livestock, as well as animal testing.

To execute these large-scale goals by 2020, General Mills will continue following its four-step sustainability model. The company’s sustainability press release includes these four steps:

-Assessment: In 2011, General Mills worked with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to complete a comprehensive supply risk analysis of all the agricultural raw materials the company buys worldwide. This assessment prioritized raw materials which were analyzed against dozens of potential risk categories such as human rights, deforestation, economic sustainability, fertilizer (nitrogen) use, GHG emissions, soil loss, water quality, and water use. In addition, the company worked with the Rainforest Alliance to assess fiber sourcing.               

-Strategy Formation: General Mills identified the priority raw materials where it can have the greatest impact from a sourcing standpoint: wheat, oats, palm oil, vanilla, cocoa, corn, dairy, eggs, fiber packaging, and sugar (sugar beets and sugar cane). The company will focus on developing strategies for sustainably sourcing these materials.

-Transformation: Through its work with outside partners, General Mills leads and participates in pilot projects, sharing the results so others in the industry can continue to refine their approach. The company has taken the lead in pursuing sustainable solutions for wheat and oats.

-Monitoring and Evaluation: General Mills' efforts to monitor and evaluate its progress are ongoing. When necessary, the company involves third-party auditors to help measure and analyze its results.

It’s nice to see General Mills is pledging to become a better company, and isn’t only interested in its bottom line. More companies, especially large ones with significant global impacts and influence, should fall in line with General Mills. However, if the trend for other big businesses and food producers doesn’t follow the example being set by General Mills, consumers can always put their dollar power to good use through buying and investing in companies that better match their ethics and values.