Belgian retail group Colruyt has committed to furthering its work on improving working conditions for its suppliers in risk countries, by increasing audits this year.
In 2015, the group conducted a total of 555 audits at non-European non-food plants and agricultural and food companies suppliers. It found that 86% of these had acceptable working conditions.
A plan of improvement was provided to the the suppliers that required minor or major improvements to conditions, while cooperation was ceased with nine suppliers with very low scores.
In 2016, Colruyt is aiming to speed up auditing in the food industry and wants to have audited all food processing companies at least once by the end of 2016.
According to Daniel Bral, who manages the social auditing at Colruyt, the company "wants to have audited all primary producers at least once by the end of 2018".
"Customers' increased interest in sustainability will certainly stimulate the producers to implement improvements faster," added Bral.
© 2016 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by John Golden. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
