Human rights and modern slavery
We’re committed to doing everything we can to respect human rights. Issues affecting the rights and conditions of those who work in our supply chains are of serious concern to us. Responding to evolving risks ensures the best chance of protecting everyone who works for us directly and in our supply chains.
Raising awareness of modern slavery
Modern slavery can occur in many forms, including forced labour, child labour, domestic servitude, or human trafficking. These practices have no place in our business or our suppliers’ businesses. We honour the commitments of our parent company, Associated British Foods plc (ABF), through the ABF Modern Slavery Statement and by adopting the ABF Supplier Code of Conduct. The Code of Conduct is based on the Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI) Base Code, and the ILO Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998, amended 2022). It requires all our suppliers to adhere to ABF's principles and share the responsibility of respecting workers’ rights, including zero-tolerance of all types of modern slavery-related issues.
We run training to raise awareness of modern slavery with senior leadership, procurement staff, quality teams and those in customer-facing roles. This programme highlights the risks of forced labour and guides our people in what they can do if they have concerns.
Respecting human rights in our supply chain
We align our work on human rights with the internationally recognised framework of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs). We uphold labour and human rights throughout our production and manufacturing processes from sourcing raw materials through to the finished product.
We expect new suppliers to sign our Supplier Code of Conduct, which sets out the standards expected around working conditions, wages, discrimination and environmental management. We also use third parties, including AIM-Progress, EcoVadis and SEDEX, to help us track supplier performance.
