Lifting the Label on the Worlds Largest Food Producers
Whether in a small or large degree, food companies touch almost every aspect of the value chain -farmers, laborers, traders, and consumers - cooks, eaters, promoters, chefs, and retailers. And while everyone has to eat, and most people in our society love certain brands, we often know little about what goes on behind the label. At Oxfam MN's last monthly meeting, we were lucky enough to have Jim French, Oxfam America's Regional Advocacy Lead and and Kansas farmer, join us for a preview of one of Oxfam's newest campaigns.
Oxfam's Food Company Campaign will work to "lift the label" to see how food companies rate when it comes to fair labor standards, sustainability practices, empowerment of women, and land and water grabs. Oxfam has spent the last two years diligently investigating the ten largest food companies in the world.
The question the campaign seeks to answer -
Does company X help ensure everyone has enough to eat now and in the future?
The overall goal of the campaign-
To ensure food and beverage companies’ policies and practices are helping everyone reach a future of food security.
List of Companies
Company
|
Annual
total revenues
|
Forbes
2000 ranking (food and beverage
brands) (April 2012)
|
1. Nestle
|
90.3 billion USD
|
1
|
2. PepsiCo
|
66.5 billion USD
|
2
|
3. Unilever
|
60.2 billion USD
|
4
|
4. Kraft (Mondelez)
|
55.4 billion USD
|
5 (combined firm)
|
5. Coca-Cola
|
44.3 billion USD
|
3
|
6. Mars
|
30.0 billion USD
|
Not ranked
|
7. Danone
|
25.0 billion USD
|
6
|
8. Associated British Foods
|
17.2 billion USD
|
8
|
9. General Mills
|
15.0 billion USD
|
7
|
10. Kellogg’s
|
13.2 billion USD
|
9
|
Together in the meeting, we discussed the 5 main points of interest that have been inspected in each of the ten companies. These 5 points all broadly make up our food system. We seek to secure and/or improve the impact large scale food producers have on these areas.
1. Women
How does company X
help ensure women, who produce much of the world’s food, are empowered to grow
or buy enough food to eat?
GOAL: To ensure that food and beverage companies empower
women as farmers, workers, and members of local communities to claim their
rights and grow or to buy enough food to eat;
2. Land and
Water
How does company X
contribute to accelerating or resolving the global scramble for land and water?
GOAL: To ensure that food and beverage companies adopt
responsible investment and sourcing policies and practices in relation to land
and water to prevent land and water grabs.
3. Farmers and
Workers
How does company X contribute to supporting or undermining the livelihoods of the Z million people who help get our food from the ground to our stores?
GOAL: To ensure that food and beverage companies invest in
the productivity, resilience and sustainability of small food producers and
enforce responsible labor and sourcing policies, which support a living income
and safe working conditions for the employees and farmers impacted by their
supply chains.
4. The Planet
How does company X contribute to sopping up or preserving our scarce planetary resources in the face of climate change?
GOAL: To ensure that food and beverage companies use
resources sustainably and responsibly and address the environmental impacts of
their business models particularly as they relate to climate change, water
availability and the implications for small farmers.
5.
Transparency
How successfully does
company X disclose or obscure its policies, sourcing practices and lobbying
activities to ensure they are responsible, fair and beneficial to global food
security?
GOAL: To ensure that food and beverage companies are
transparent and responsible in their business practices, policies and corporate
influence so that they can be accountable for their impacts particularly as
they relate to global food security.
The campaign is set to launch in March with a focus on the first area of interest: Women. The company "scorecards" will be made public and Oxfam Action Corps MN hopes to raise as much local momentum as possible. The released information will be controversial, but we are not working towards a global boycott, rather an exposing of truth, and a mass call for change. The date of release will be set in conjunction with International Women's Day. Oxfam organizers all over the world will share a unified action and message, calling for action for fairness for women and small farmers in food production. Due to the controversy surrounding this campaign the details for the launching event are still highly confidential. In the mean time, let us know your thoughts on these five issues, and how you think they can most effectively be brought to light?
Liz Harper
