Food Safety & Environment

BRC Global Standard for Food Safety (Issue 8), Start Programme 

Transylvania Food Company audited annually by DQS Romania to confirm that we meet the requirements set out in the BRC Global Standard for Food Safety (Issue 8), Start Programme, an entry level programme specifically designed for smaller and developing sites. We are 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 

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. 

Packaging 

In our efforts reduce and even remove single use plastic, we 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. 

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 or as vases for flowers. Our upcycled jars are used as serving bowls for our chutneys and jam. 

Carbon Offset 

We have achieved CARBON NEUTRAL status following an audit of our greenhouse gas emissions by the Uganda Carbon Bureau.

This included all of the fuel used in our vehicles (petrol, diesel and LPG); the fuelwood purchased to heat our premises; the electricity consumed, packaging materials and air travel. 

We offset these emissions by purchasing Plan Vivo credits from the ‘Trees for Global Benefits’ project in Bushenyi, and supervised by ECOTRUST.

As a result of the huge success of this project, it has expanded to Mbale district in eastern Uganda. Many European buyers of voluntary carbon credits have recognised this as a good source of high- quality credits. 

Pivniţa Bunicii  is a social enterprise in Transylvania, who are now also supporting a rural community in Uganda.