Our Supply Chain

Sodexo has significant purchasing power. In the UK and Ireland, we serve over one million meals a day in hospitals, schools, workplaces, at leisure sites and major hospitality events. As a large scale purchaser, we are committed to the principles of sustainable procurement while recognising that there is a balance to be struck between meeting the needs of our business, adhering to legislation, and meeting the needs of others such as clients, suppliers and customers.

Sodexo recognises that it is important for the future well-being of the countryside that farming communities are supported and able to contribute to our supply chain. We always give preference of supply to those producers who practice and support sustainability in the food and farming communities that depend on them, regardless of geographical location.

Local sourcing
Sodexo's sustainable procurement policy was developed in line with the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) guidelines. For food purchasing, we consider products sourced in the UK and Ireland respectively to be local. Our buying team works with suppliers to promote local products: over 60% of purchases from our top five direct suppliers are UK sourced products and in Ireland some 50% of expenditure with Irish suppliers is on local produce. During 2008, we will evaluate the results of a supplier questionnaire to establish our total expenditure on UK sourced products.

For further information, please download our Sustainable Food Procurement Brochure.

Seasonality and sustainability
Recent research by the Institute of Grocery Distribution (IGD) found that 41% of consumers view local produce to be that grown or reared within ten miles of their home. Despite our commitment, not every product can be grown locally: there is a limited range and, even then, certain produce will not be available all year round. This is why we have adopted a regional approach which focuses on sustainability, seasonality and provenance rather than just how far away the product is grown or reared.

Supplier Code of Conduct
Our Supplier Code of Conduct sets out Sodexo's desire to do business with suppliers, contractors and other partners who conduct their business based on responsible, ethical, social and environmental practices. During 2007 the Code was communicated to 500 key suppliers. Audits against the code are undertaken by Safegard. We will work with suppliers to ensure that any noncompliance issues are addressed.

The Code is based on the UN Global Compact (of which Sodexo Group is a signatory) and outlines our commitment expectations in relation to key social and environmental corporate citizenship issues including:

• child and forced labour
• human rights
• employee remuneration and working conditions
• freedom of association and collective bargaining
• corruption and ethics
• environmental responsibility

Supplier health and safety standards
Sodexo's purchasing team works closely with Safegard, our food safety, health & safety and environmental consultancy, to ensure that we source safe food from approved suppliers. All suppliers are regularly audited by Safegard against our Supplier Code of Practice.

Traceability and the origin of ingredients form a key part of these audits. We have a robust product recall system in place to ensure that we can immediately remove from the supply chain any product that causes concern.

Reducing delivery food miles
Through consolidation between January and December 2007, the number of deliveries to Sodexo sites was reduced by over 100,000, saving over 360,000 road miles and 400 tonnes of CO2 compared with the 2006 calendar year*. * Consolidation covers nearly all fruit, vegetable and meat deliveries.

For more information please view our latest Corporate Citizenship Report.