Food Safety & Sustainability
Transylvania Food Company is audited annually by DQS Romania to confirm that we meet the requirements set out in the BRC Global Standard for Food Safety, Start Programme (Issue 9), an entry level programme specifically designed for smaller and developing sites. We were the first micro-enterprise in Romania to achieve this status and our journey has been used by BRC as a case study to promote their standard to small businesses worldwide.
The BRC Global Standard has become a market leading brand that provides confidence and assurances to the food industry. The standard ensures good manufacturing practice and the safety of food products and was first created in 1998 in response to industry needs. The food standard was designed to ensure retailers wholesalers and brand owners were able to produce safe food products at a consistent quality.
For further information visit their website at www.brcglobalstandards.com
SUSTAINABILITY
Our BRC membership provided us with access to the ESG Lead platform to self-assess our compliance with ESG (Environment, Social, Governance) standards. In time, this will become a legal requirement and an external audit will be necessary, but we are now prepared.
Our initial assessment gave us an above average score and we are now setting goals for improvement and developing an action plan on how these might be achieved.
Annual EIA for Wild Harvesting
Each year we commission an Environmental Impact Assessment for the sustainable wild harvesting of the flowers, fruit and berries we will collect in the coming year.
Potable Water
We have installed multiple filters to treat the town supply before it is used in our facility. The quarterly laboratory analysis verifies it to be well within the legal limits for potable water.
Wastewater
There is no sewage system in Saschiz and we have installed our own wastewater treatment plant. The outflow is tested every three months and the results are consistently well within EU limits for discharge into an open ditch.
Packaging
We have removed single use plastic, and have replaced bubble wrap with Hexcel wrapping paper, now seal our boxes with paper tape instead of plastic, why we use biodegradable shrink wrap for our pallets and recyclable carrier bags made out paper instead of plastic.
We package our products in jars and bottles made out of glass instead of plastic.
We have offset contracts in place in Romania to recycle our packaging materials on the basis that they are disposed of somewhere by our customers.
Food Waste Recycling
We compost all of the waste created from ingredients in our processes. The compost is used in our orchard to suppress weeds around the trees, to conserve moisture, improve soil structure and to provide nutrients.
Waste Recycling
We have offset contracts in place to recycle our plastic, metal, glass and paper waste.
There is an acute need for households to recycle more of their waste and we provide staff training and guidance on what they can recycle.
Upcycling
We upcycle some of our glass bottles, and they are used as glasses for our tastings. The upcycled jars are used as serving bowls for our chutneys and jam. What we do not need, the upcycling company sell to other customers.
Electricity
We are by far the largest consumer of electricity in Saschiz.
We are encouraging our staff to turn off lights and appliances when not in use, but there is a reluctance to accept that electricity is not free, and it will take time.
We have installed solar panels to generate electricity and with 30kW this has reduced our consumption from the grid by over 30%, with surplus electricity sold back to the grid for others to use. We are seeking a reliable supplier of green energy.
We have replaced all light bulbs with LED.
We have installed four electric vehicle charging points in preparation for replacing our existing vehicles with electric or hybrid. The charging points are available for public use with direct payments by credit card and app.
Fuel
We try to minimise the number of vehicle journeys by forward planning daily activities, but there is a reluctance to embrace such efficiency. It will take time.
Fuelwood
Wood is the main source of fuel in our local area for heating and cooking. We buy our wood locally from licensed forestry company and in good time so that it is dry by the time we need to use it, improving thermal efficiency and reducing the quantity of wood required. It also reduces the smoke generated.
Air Travel
Our CEO and his wife are now taking fewer flights each year and spending longer in Romania on each trip.
Carbon-reduction Strategy
Our strategy looks at the whole lifecycle of the products and at the business as a whole. It has two elements, the first is on-going and it is to reduce our carbon emissions as much as possible. The second is to offset our remaining emissions by planting trees.
The annual audit (by Code Redd in 2022) includes Scope 1: all of the fuel used in our vehicles (petrol, diesel and LPG); the fuelwood purchased to heat our premises. Scope 2 includes the electricity consumed. Scope 3 includes packaging materials and air travel, the raw materials used in our products and delivery to our customers. Our total carbon footprint was calculated to be 244mt.
To offset these emissions in full we have chosen the “Stand for Trees” project in Kenya and as a result all of our products can be classified carbon neutral.
The Kasigau Wildlife Sanctuary was the first-ever project to issue verified REDD+ credits. Using revenues from the sale of its carbon credits, the project protects over 200,000 hectares of dryland forest in Kenya, which is home to wildlife such as African elephants, lions, and Grevy's zebras. Social service programs are co-created with the community and relieve pressure to participate in activities such as poaching or clear-cutting forests. These services include schooling, access to health care, clean water, food security, and improved livelihoods for a community of approximately 116,000 people. In addition to all of these amazing benefits, the Kasigau project will prevent the emissions of 45 million tonnes of CO2 over its 30-year lifetime.
YouTube video by
Netflix highlighting the Kasigau project's impact:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nhSpCn8pjZI
To review the
retirement status of the Stand For Trees credits, click here.
We are innovators and we hope others will follow our example and develop strategies to reduce their carbon emissions.
Unfortunately, there are no sources of verified carbon certificates in Romania, but we are trying to encourage regenerative agriculture by persuading the community to plant trees.
Regenerative Agriculture
Each year we contract a local
vegetable grower to produce seedlings of a traditional high flavour tomato
variety. These seedlings are distributed to anyone interested and we purchase
their surplus production. This heirloom tomato is now listed in the Slow Food Ark of Taste. It was in danger of disappearing as young people were no longer
interested to save seed from one year to the next, instead preferring to buy
packets of seeds or indeed tomatoes from the supermarket. Creating demand is
one of the best ways to secure the survival of endangered varieties, and our
tomato chutney is made exclusively from these tomatoes.
Village orchards are an
important aspect of the landscape but have been neglected for many years and
our efforts are a small step to reverse this trend.
We will continue to plant
traditional varieties of fruit trees to regenerate our orchard and then expand
into our field. Our apples are made into juice which is sold under the Pivnita
Bunicii brand or distilled into schnapps and sold under our Kaspers brand.
We already buy any surplus
fruit from the community and by creating demand for heirloom varieties hope to
encourage our neighbours to replant as very few have done so since the
eighties.
Every Spring we ask our
neighbours for the sweepings from the floor of their hay barns which contain
not only grass but wildflower seeds. This is spread on our field that had been
cultivated for maize until 2018 and already wildflowers are returning, helping
the biodiversity to recover.
Our land has been registered as the “Pivnita Bunicii Orchard” on the Restor platform so that we can share our vision and achievements with a wider audience.
Restor's aim is to
accelerate the global restoration movement by connecting everyone, everywhere
to local restoration. Restore connects people to scientific data, supply chains,
funding, and each other to increase the impact, scale, and sustainability of
restoration efforts
Our vision is to have a scheme in Romania that encourages companies to reduce their emissions, putting a price on carbon that generates local funding for widespread regenerative agriculture. There is a huge amount of agricultural land that is not being used that could easily be planted with trees and funded with carbon credits.
SOCIAL
Socio-economic Impact
We buy our raw materials (flowers, fruit & vegetables) from the community and we employ local people to produce our jams, chutney, cordials and gin. Each year we buy over 90mt of raw material, with the value of over RON792,560, and we employ 14 permanent staff with a further 14 employed seasonally.
There is an acute need for households
to recycle more of their waste and we provide staff training and guidance on
what they can recycle.
We have approximately 100m of river
frontage on our property and we regularly remove the plastic bottles that
accumulate along the riverbank.
We provide running potable water to a neighbour, and we have connected another neighbour to our sewerage treatment plant, allowing her to install an indoor flushing toilet and shower.
Each year we contract a local
vegetable grower to produce seedlings of a traditional high flavour tomato
variety. These seedlings are distributed to anyone interested and we purchase
their surplus production, and providing them with a much needed route to market. This heirloom
tomato is now listed in the Slow Food Ark of Taste. It was in danger of disappearing as young people
were no longer interested to save seed from one year to the next, instead
preferring to buy packets of seeds or indeed tomatoes from the supermarket.
Creating demand is one of the best ways to secure the survival of endangered
varieties, and our tomato chutney is made exclusively from these tomatoes.
GOVERNANCE
Good
corporate governance has eight major characteristics which we aim to uphold but
which are not very well understood in small rural enterprises.
·
participatory: our managers
contribute to the preparation of monthly management reports and actively take
part in the discussions and action plans that follow.
·
consensus oriented: Our managers are encouraged to contribute to
the annual business plan and consensus is required for these updates including
the setting of the annual budget.
·
accountable: our managers
accept annual objectives derived from the budget and are held accountable and
rewarded for their achievement
·
transparent: our management
reports contain financial information, data that is not often shared with staff
·
responsive: to the
present and future needs of society
·
effective and efficient: We have
introduced inventory control and financial management software which has
greatly improved both the effectiveness and the efficiency of our work.
·
equitable and inclusive: we recruit based on skill for the job rather
than sex or ethical background. Our staff is 60% female.
·
follows the rule of law: we have a
zero tolerance on corruption and encourage our staff to tell the truth and
uphold the rule of law.
We
hope that by following these principles we are providing an example for others
to follow.
