Utrecht, The Netherlands, Oct. 10 - Sara Lee wants its coffee to taste as good to those who farm it as it does to those who drink it. As part of its commitment to corporate social responsibility, the producer of coffee flagship brands such as Douwe Egberts, Merrild, Maison du Café and Marcilla announced today the doubling of its worldwide procurement of sustainable coffee. With this new commitment, Sara Lee brings its total sustainable coffee volume to 20,000 tons, solidifying the company's leadership position in this arena.
During the past four years, Sara Lee has achieved an eight-fold increase in its sustainable coffee volumes: from 2,500 tons in 2004 to the 20,000 tons it has committed to procure in 2008.
"As a major global coffee roaster, Sara Lee can boost sustainability as a competitive way of producing coffee that supports the environment as well as the socioeconomic conditions of local communities," said Frank van Oers, chief executive officer of Sara Lee's Coffee & Tea division. "Sara Lee's sustainable coffee volume will continue to move in parallel with the growth of the supply market."
An important part of Sara Lee's efforts for buying sustainable coffee is its partnership with the UTZ Certified Foundation. "The partnership with UTZ Certified matches our long-term vision and ambition of increasing sustainability within the complex coffee sector," added Van Oers. "Sara Lee believes UTZ Certified provides a very beneficial worldwide code of conduct and an accompanying system of control for the production and processing of mainstream coffee."
Sara Lee partners with UTZ (which means "good" in Mayan language) since 2004 by buying UTZ-certified coffee and helping farmers become certified, including farmers from Sara Lee's own coffee projects in countries of origin. The certification follows UTZ Certified's international code of conduct for coffee producers, which sets standards for social and environmental criteria for coffee growing practices and farm management. UTZ certification ensures traceability of coffee and ensures that farmers get a better price for their product.
Sara Lee is also a founding member of "The Common Code for the Coffee Community" (4Cs). In this multi-stakeholder initiative, producers, trade, industry and civil society work together for more sustainability in the entire coffee sector.