Kerry: A path to sustainable nutrition

MUCH is expected of the global food industry when the issue pertains to sustainable nutrition for all. The task of every stakeholder involved is complex, given the challenges they face, from the effects of climate change to shifting dietary preferences. It requires the transformation of food systems to ensure adequate nutritious food now and into the future. And with the population rising to an estimated 10 billion by 2050, the call to change is immediate.

 

Most global industry players have long started taking part in this transformation through their sustainability strategies and multisectoral collaborations. Recently, Kerry, a world leader in taste and nutrition for the food, beverage, and pharmaceutical markets, shared its Beyond the Horizon sustainability strategy in which it aims to deliver sustainable nutrition solutions to a target of over 2 billion consumers by 2030.

 

To understand the actions necessary in reaching this goal, Food Pacific Manufacturing Journal reached out to Daniel Campion, Sustainable Nutrition Lead for Kerry Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (APMEA).

 

 

Daniel Campion, Sustainable Nutrition Lead for Kerry Asia Pacific, Middle East & Africa (APMEA)

 

 

What is sustainable nutrition, and what is involved in building a successful sustainable nutrition future?

We are looking to help create a food system that's better for people's health in a way that protects society and the planet for future generations. Kerry’s vision is to be our customers’ most valued partner in creating a world of sustainable nutrition. We want to be focused end to end across the food system to positively impact our customers’ products.

 

At its highest level, sustainable nutrition is about changing how we buy, produce, innovate new products, and engage with our customers. We support our customers in their journey along the sustainable nutrition spectrum, from whichever point they are at. (Refer to chart: sustainable nutrition spectrum)

 

 

 

 

The top of the sustainable nutrition spectrum is focused on nutrition. We want to help our customers increase the nutrition of products and meet new nutrition regulations. On the opposite of the spectrum, our goal is to decrease environmental and social impact by working with them to reduce their footprint.

 

What's really exciting is that we can contribute to both sides with our science backed product technologies. Our approach is two-pronged – to reduce our environmental footprint to lower the impact we pass on to our customers in our products, while we co-create and innovate with them on their products to reduce overall footprint and increase nutrition for the consumer.

 

How has the journey been so far?

We’ve made some good progress in our sustainability journey. Since 2017, we’ve achieved a 48% reduction in Scope 1 and 2 GHG emissions, and a 39% reduction in food waste. We’ve also been getting great recognition. The World Benchmarking alliance ranked food companies globally in terms of their contribution to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Two years ago, they ranked Kerry 16^th. In 2023, they moved us up to ninth out of 350 food companies globally.

 

What are the challenges in this undertaking?

We need to keep going to scale up sustainable nutrition. We want to reach a tipping point as much as possible, and if you take that perspective, you need to solve multiple challenges at the same time. A lot is happening in the world and in the food industry – to have the greatest impact, we can't just be green, we have to address various concerns.

 

What’s most important is that taste is king. That means no change to a product will happen unless the taste is as good or better than it was before. Then from both a cost and supply chain perspective, any changes there need to meet customer and consumer expectations.

 

Another is understanding the impact of regulation. Consumers should understand the choices they are making and the impact of those choices. Our proprietary tools can help our customers understand and quantify the changes they can make.

 

I do think Kerry is at its strongest when we can look across the total consumer end product -- by combining our technologies, our innovation capability and build solutions to meet and balance all the different needs.

 

Could you share concrete examples of how Kerry is solving any of these challenges?

Through our taste capability as an example, we help our customers reduce sugar in their beverages. It is important to note that sugar – from its production to the point where you add it to your product – generates carbon through the chain and uses a significant amount of water. And every kilogramme of sugar can use between 600 and 1000 litres of water, depending on the source of the sugar.

 

So, we help our customers create products with the same or better taste, and at the same time reduce their carbon footprint while ensuring their products are more nutritious with less sugar. If you look at our water impact in terms of sugar reduction through working with our customers, it's a much bigger scale than what we would be able to achieve ourselves by just reducing water in our factories.

It's a great example of how we can extend our impact beyond the four walls with the sustainable nutrition solutions we are producing.

 

In addition, we tap on our expertise in nutritional profiling to support our customers in reaching their own sustainable nutrition goals, using our KerryNutri Guide tool. The tool measures the nutritional impact of our customers’ products across 11 different government endorsed front-of-pack nutrition labelling systems and national legislation requirements representing Europe, UK, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Singapore, Brazil and Mexico.

 

Another example is how we can support customers in the fight against food waste. Across the global food system, about 30% of all food goes to waste. But if the shelf life of a product can be extended, there will be more opportunities for the product to be consumed. If this product is therefore consumed, all the resources that went into extending its shelf life, as well as the product itself, obviously would not go to waste.
 

It's another example of how our impact through partnership with our customers can be much, much greater than what we can do ourselves. If we can save the total product from going to waste, that's a massive impact.

 

 

Based on global regulatory changes, the KerryNutri Guide’s front-of-pack nutrition labelling calculator makes timely adjustments to its calculator algorithms to keep front-of-pack labelling up to date.

 

 

Could you compare diversity and diverse needs regulations in APMEA?

The APMEA region is very broad and very complex, but at the same time the speed of change here is very fast. Singapore, Australia, and China have recently announced some new reporting requirements, which pose new challenges to companies to comply with. Each country will also be at different stages in their journey, but the increasing regulatory landscape will eventually affect all.

 

In Europe, new regulations are coming in that will affect companies in the APMEA region that supply into Europe, like the EU Deforestation Regulation (EUDR), which becomes applicable on 30 December this year for companies placing relevant commodities or products on the EU market or exporting from it.

 

At COP28, 159 countries signed the agreement to focus on the food system from a carbon perspective, and this completely links to nutrition. The FAO is building a roadmap for sustainable food systems that will be unveiled at a later COP and this will guide countries in building their individual sustainable food systems.

 

Does Southeast Asia have sustainable nutrition goals that you can discuss?

The increased focus on nutrition in some countries could further bring in further sugar taxes and marketing restrictions on certain types of products. We are seeing increasing regulation announcements across a number of countries as well as nutritional labeling increase in some markets as well. These regulations will help us achieve sustainable nutrition goals.

 

Tell us about Kerry’s role in helping stakeholders contribute to better sustainable nutrition.

The level of change that's required to achieve global commitments is very high, so partnerships are critical in creating the greatest impact. Earlier, I talked about working with our customers in assessing their products and co-creating products using our technologies. We also share our roadmaps with them.

 

We maintain a broad group of peers with whom we learn and share information from a manufacturing perspective. We collaborate with our suppliers for carbon footprint reduction. At Kerry, our commitment in terms of our operational footprint is to reduce carbon by 55% by 2030 and achieve Net Zero by 2050.

 

Our partners support us in defining and executing our plans, and ensure everyone is working to a consistent methodology. This is quite important to measure improvement.

 

We also want to protect society and engage locally through our My Community Programme, where every employee has a paid volunteer day, and every site has funds to invest in local communities.

 

On a global level, we also work with the United Nations World Food Programme and with Concern Worldwide on initiatives such as Project Amata, which aims to enhance the production and availability of safe, sustainable milk for children and communities in the Gitega province of Burundi; and the Alive programme, designed to improve the lives of Kenyans and Kenyan farmers by providing access to climate-smart agricultural practices.

 

 

Key sustainability highlights for 2023

 

 

Finally, what is your outlook on sustainable nutrition in Southeast Asia?

In 2024, nutrition will continue to be a key pillar and I expect more nutritional guidelines in place. The definition of sustainability and sustainable nutrition is very much going to be linked to health and wellness, how the products you are consuming can contribute to your overall life and wellness. This is more so in Southeast Asia and other markets in Asia, compared to in Europe or North America.

 

Focus on green initiatives will increase across different markets. Singapore, for example, announced updates on its 2030 green plan. However, I think some markets are getting more challenging. There will be a balance against some of the cost changes, as well as inflation changes that come with investment in sustainability and sustainable nutrition. This increases the need for solutions that can address multiple challenges at the same time, which all ties back to how we are striving to create a world of Sustainable Nutrition in Kerry.