Sustainable sourcing
Sourcing our ingredients and raw materials sustainably.
Our commitment
Sourcing the ingredients and raw materials we use can have a significant impact on the natural environment, whether that’s in waterways, agricultural land, soil or forests.
We’re committed to caring for the environments that our ingredients are sourced from. Where it drives change, we support credible certifications and work with key partners to take a restorative approach to nature.
Owned by you
Our big conversation with members on ethics:
We held our biggest conversation yet this year! Across the year, through a range of activities, members shared with us over 300,000 views as we celebrated 30 years of Responsible Retailing, and asked them to shape how we will work together on ethical campaigns in the future.
Aquaculture and fisheries
We are dedicated to preserving our oceans, marine life, and the livelihoods of our suppliers. By employing a risk assessment process for all our fish products, we ensure responsible seafood sourcing.
As proud members of the Sustainable Seafood Coalition, we adhere to its voluntary codes of conduct for responsibly sourcing and labelling fish and seafood.
Forests and peatlands
We recognise that deforestation and land conversion present a significant risk in, and to, food supply chains, and tackling this risk is essential to meeting the ambitions in our climate plan, as well as the wider protection of nature and communities.
Palm oil and soy production can impact communities through deforestation, climate change and habitat loss. To achieve a sustainable approach to sourcing, we engage across the industry, and with environmental NGOs, to understand the best approach and set clear policies. The advice from NGOs is to source responsibly, as this is the most effective way to drive change, and alternatives to crops such as palm oil are often more environmentally damaging due to their land use.
We ensure that the wood and paper used in our own-brand products for Co-op Food comes from a responsible source and is of known origin.
99% comes from Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) or recycled sources (2023: 98%)
Fields and orchards
We work with producers and growers, focusing on protecting our natural resources, water, soil and biodiversity, and building resilience in the changing climate. We understand that, whilst doing this, we must also consider impacts on people and their livelihoods. See our commitments on Fairtrade and Ethical trade. Read on for more information about our approach on water security and pesticide use, and our focus on fresh product, horticulture and crop protection in 2025.
Livestock
Respecting animal welfare is an important part of our work in agriculture. For all our Co-op branded fresh, frozen and prepared meat and poultry products, our main welfare standard and focus is Red Tractor. For higher welfare, we use RSPCA Assured certification or equivalent. Since 2008, all shell eggs sold (Co-op own-brand and branded) have been free-range as a minimum and, since 2010 we only use free-range eggs as ingredients in our own-brand products. In 2018 we also moved to 100% outdoor-bred pork.
Owned by you
Responding to calls from our member-owners, we launched our ‘Space to Thrive’ commitment moving to lower stocking density across all fresh, breaded and ready to eat chicken, giving chickens 20% more space in barns.
