Meat+Poultry - April 2023 - 56

PROTEIN PACT
Unl cking
silver linings
Panel discusses how the challenge of sustainability
can grow into fresh opportunities
BY ERICA SHAFFER | eshaf fer@sos land.com
M
" The consumer
today is more
educated than
they were even
five years ago,
but they're
going to be
even more
educated
in the next
five years. "
- BARB RENNER
eat processors and retailers are
under increasing pressure to " put
up or shut up " when it comes to
sustainability claims. Consumers want to
see those claims supported with publicly
available data; and industry stakeholders are
rising to the challenge by coming together and
developing programs that demonstrate how
business operations can align with consumer
expectations surrounding transparency,
sustainability and continuous improvement.
" So, we all know that the expectation of
the consumer has changed, " said Barb Renner,
vice chair and US consumer products leader
at Deloitte LLP, during a panel discussion held
at the 2023 Annual Meat Conference in March.
" The consumer expects more information
about the nutrition and health of what they're
eating, information about the companies that
they're buying from, and how they act as a
corporate citizen and treat their employees. "
CONFRONTING CHALLENGES
There are multiple issues the industry must
address in order to deliver on consumers'
expectations, Renner noted. First, solving the
problem of how the protein industry will feed
two billion more people by 2050 using limited
resources and with protecting the environment
as a priority.
Traceability, for those companies under
US Food and Drug Administration oversight,
in three years will be a new regulatory reality
for food manufacturers. And food safety issues
will always be top of mind for the industry.
Renner said that underlying these areas
56 MEAT+POULTRY | 04.23 | www.meatpoultry.com
of concern is a common denominator -
inaccessible data, incomplete data or the lack
of data.
" I think everyone talks about having
problems, getting accessible data, " she said.
" It's also getting accessible data within your
four walls, but also with your partners, the
training partners that you have and supply
chain partners. " Renner added that the lack
of trust in the system may inhibit a rancher
or other partner from giving information
to a supplier over uncertainty of how that
information could be used.
Even when the data is available, the
regulatory framework governing what to report
and how also is evolving. Justin Ransom,
senior director of sustainable food policy
with Tyson Foods Inc., said billions of dollars'
worth of assets under management are focused
around Environmental, Social and Governance
(ESG) as companies like Tyson begin to
develop strategies to work through this space.
" Also, the regulatory environment is
changing with SEC proposed rules, " he
said. " It's no longer necessarily going to be
an environment that's voluntary in terms of
reporting emissions. It's really about, as this
becomes a regulatory environment, how do we
as businesses think through what we need to
do to be able to successfully report? "
MAKING THE PACT
Retailers and stakeholders in the animal
protein supply chain are responding to this
evolving landscape by creating programs that
demonstrate how they are advancing ESGchekman
- stock.adobe.com; Maple Leaf Foods
http://www.meatpoultry.com
Meat+Poultry - April 2023

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