November 2010
FT Receives Sustainability Leadership Recognition Award
BRAMPTON, ONTARIO (November 9, 2010) Guelph Food Technology Centre held a gala event last week to celebrate leadership in sustainability amongst food and beverage processing facilities. Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Co. of Picton, Ontario took home the highest honours of the evening
The event signalled the release of key findings from Phase 1 of the research project, “Raising the Bar for Sustainability Performance in Ontario’s Food and Beverage Processing Industry.” Facilities that participated in the study and that showed exceptional initiatives in sustainability were nominated for special recognition. At the November 4 gala event, industry frontrunners in various categories received recognition for their leadership. Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Co., a small facility in Picton, Ontario, won the recognition plaque for the most prestigious overall category, Corporate Social Responsibility.
Cher Mereweather, director of GFTC’s sustainability consulting business unit, says what makes the win so impressive is that a small facility has been able to excel at incorporating sustainability.
“With fewer than 20 employees, Fifth Town Artisan Cheese Co. demonstrated that corporate social responsibility can be done well at any size,” says Mereweather.
Other facilities that were nominated in this category were announced for the first time at the gala: Kraft Canada Inc. in Scarborough, Ontario; Hiram Walker and Sons Ltd. in Windsor, Ontario; and Cargill Value Added Meats – Foodservice Canada in London, Ontario.
Other categories and winners were:
• Energy Management: Heinz Canada, Leamington, Ontario
• Water Management: No winner was selected; however, recognition was given to all nominees for their excellence
• Waste Management: McCormick Canada, London, Ontario
• Environmental Sustainability: Cargill Value Added Meats – Foodservice Canada, London, Ontario
• Community Contribution and Employee Engagement: Kraft Canada Inc., Scarborough Ontario
• Strategic Leadership: Frito Lay Canada, New Minas, Nova Scotia
Mereweather is pleased at the industry’s willingness to share sustainability experiences and their enthusiasm in celebrating successes.
“The fact that so many companies agreed to be part of the project and attended the gala shows how much the understanding of the business case for sustainability has grown in food and beverage processing,” says Mereweather. “Our industry is really getting behind the global drive for sustainability and realizes that it not only makes business sense, but it’s the right thing to do.”
Maria Klimas, senior project manager with GFTC’s sustainability consulting business unit presented key findings from Phase 1 of the “Raising the Bar for Sustainability Performance in Ontario’s Food and Beverage Processing Industry” project. Klimas proposed a framework to help food and beverage processors integrate sustainability into their operations. The framework will be piloted in the industry throughout 2011 and is expected to be available to the rest of the industry in 2012.
The keynote speaker for the evening was Dr. John Izzo, a business consultant and author of best-selling business books Awakening Corporate Soul and Values Shift: Recruiting, Retaining and Engaging the Multigenerational Workforce. Izzo encouraged attendees to have a bold vision for their facility or company and highlighted the importance of senior buy-in throughout the sustainability journey. He offered practical advice for focused, disciplined commitment to sustainability, such as creating placeholders to discuss sustainability in every meeting and reporting regularly on progress.
Another highlight of the evening was a silent auction that raised $3,155 for Second Harvest (http://www.secondharvest.ca), a Toronto-based perishable food recovery organization. That amount will help deliver approximately 6,310 meals across the greater Toronto area.
GFTC is a world leader in food industry solutions, helping companies along the entire food value chain compete globally by strengthening the very foundations of their business: their products, processes and people. Each year, GFTC assists more than 1,500 companies, providing confidential services in food safety and quality consulting and auditing, training, product development, packaging, labeling and sustainability. For more information, visit http://www.gftc.ca.