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Column
| Sustainability in the food chain |
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Since 1995, fifteen large Dutch food chain companies, including Cosun, have been working together in the Stichting Duurzame Voedingsmiddelenketen (DuVo), the Sustainable Food Chain Foundation. The purpose of DuVo is to concretise the concept of sustainability and mount a more adequate response to social developments.
Although the business community affirms that food safety measures have never been so good, the public’s faith in food safety is weak. There is also a growing social awareness of the need for sustainable practices and ecologically sound production, with fair social and economic opportunities for all parties.
New technologies open up a broader range of possibilities, enabling improvements in quality, environmental performance and food safety. Social support for these developments is essential.
Stakeholders in Dutch society have various interests and perspectives in this dialogue. The food chain is concerned about the deteriorating image of its product. Public concerns about food safety demand increased checks in the chain and extensive public information.
Various ministries are involved in the dialogue, because this matter touches in public health, employment, national exports and the environment. Legislation alone cannot cover the entire picture, however. It is becoming increasingly clear that the parties involved are interdependent, and that a successful approach to the problems requires co-operation.
To help the business community to realise its responsibility, DuVo supports and stimulates the search for answers by setting up dialogues open to all parties.
Chris Dutilh is manager of safety and environmental matters at Unilever Nederland and co-ordinator of DuVo. His column has been published in Cosun in Business, March 2001<<< back
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