Ethical Trading
Poupart Limited is a strong supporter of ethical trading practices and, to this end, we instruct each of our divisions to be responsible and pro-active in minimising the environmental and social impact of their trading. To ensure standards are met and maintained, we conduct regular audits of each division's successful compliance and provide support wherever necessary.
Externally, we actively encourage our growers, suppliers and packers to implement these practices in their own businesses.
In specific terms, Poupart Limited addresses the challenge of ethical trading in a number of ways, including:
- Developing our own code of practice incorporating customers' requirements as well as key elements of the ETI Base Code and ILO (International Labour Organisation) - BerryWorld and OrchardWorld
- Becoming members of SEDEX (Social & Ethical Data Exchange) www.sedex.org.uk. This internet based, not for profit organisation allows suppliers, packers and growers to share data and improve ethical performance - BerryWorld,Poupart Citrus and OrchardWorld.
- We created and launched the Waitrose Foundation in 2005. www.waitrose.com/food/originofourfood/foundation.aspx. This unique partnership between Waitrose, their importers, the export agents and the growers improves the lives of the farm workers who grow and pick our South African fruit. To date, £750,000 has been donated from the partners' profits to provide crèches, classrooms and help with adult training and education for farm labourers - Poupart Citrus
- We initiate independent audits of suppliers and packers by respected external auditing specialist to assess compliance with our own code of practice. This process allows us to identify areas for improvement as well as positive policies which have been undertaken and are above and beyond our own requirements - BerryWorld, OrchardWorld and Poupart Citrus.
We understand that best practice and ethical trading programmes are areas which will require continual development and that we, as one of the UK's leading fresh produce companies, must strive to keep pace with change for the benefit of all those involved in our business.
