With our wide range of fruits and vegetables, we inspire consumers to make healthy choices every day—for both themselves and the planet. Our end-stage consumers must be able to have complete faith in our food safety and sustainable production. This is why we are committed to minimising our impact on the environment, positively contributing to society, purchasing sustainably, and minimising food waste. Vitality through vegetables, that is our sustainable vision.
By 2050, experts predict that there will be 10 billion world inhabitants relying on the earth for food. In order to ensure access to healthy, wholesome, and sustainable products for the future population, 37 scientists came together to publish the EAT-lancet report which explains how our current eating habits should change to achieve this goal. The report describes an ideal sustainable diet as being plant-based and incorporating more fruits and vegetables—good for people and the planet! Our current (Western) diet is comparatively less sustainable: we waste food, we rely too heavily on animal products, and we often consume too many calories. In addition, the processes that make modern food production possible are responsible for 20 to 35% of all greenhouse gas emissions, more than half of which can be traced to meat and dairy production.
To put it simply, our future diet will have a lot more fruit and vegetables! It goes without saying that as a company we wholeheartedly support these findings. We have made it part of our mission to strive for sustainable food production that will allow everyone to enjoy fresh, healthy, and sustainable fruit and vegetables in the future. Our sustainable vision is Vitality through Vegetables for a reason!
Source: The Netherlands Nutrition Centre & EATforum.org
For us, responsible supply chain management means being accountable for the products we trade (SDG#12). Each year, we sell approximately 75 million kilograms of fresh fruit and vegetables to more than 40 countries worldwide. Our end-stage customers must be able to have absolute trust in us, knowing that our products have been grown in a way that is safe, fair, and sustainable. This is why we focus on making each step of the supply chain more environmentally friendly, ensuring that there are no parts of the chain that require excess usage of water, energy, or packaging materials.
Sustainability starts with you—every effort makes a difference. That is why we like to set an excellent example for others by making our own business operations as sustainable and transparent as possible (SDG # 13). In analysing our emissions based on a carbon footprint calculation conducted in 2019, we know what specific areas we need to focus on:
Vital employees are happy employees, and we cannot reach our goals without them (SDG # 8)! To keep our employees vitalised, we:
The Best Fresh Foundation is an encompassing foundation originating from our parent company Best Fresh. As part of this Foundation’s work, we support various charities and social initiatives and work to meaningfully connect people with each other.
- The Best Fresh Foundation supports charities and initiatives close to our business locations
- These are always related to the themes “Health” and “Youth”
- The Foundation was founded by our own and other Best Fresh employees
More information:
Best Fresh FoundationWe are stronger together. We believe in the power of diversity and collaboration. We enjoy working with our partners to achieve our goals. That is why our overarching pillar is “Partnerships” or Collaboration (SDG # 17).
Naturally, Best Fresh’s related companies are important partners for us. Without them, we would never have gotten to where we are today. You can also find us at the World Horti Center, a unique platform for knowledge and innovation in Westland. Our booth in this centre is a fantastic meeting place for colleagues from our specific sectors, related companies, and potential talent from the educational world.
We are also a stakeholder in the Dutch foundation “Together Against Food Waste” a group with a mission to help reduce global food waste, specifically halving food waste in the Netherlands by 2030.
