HEINZ and palm oil

Letter from Heinz to a supporter
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Thank you very much for your enquiry.

As a socially responsible global food company dedicated to the sustainable health of people and the planet, Heinz is taking action to ensure that our Company uses only 100% certified sustainable palm oil by 2013.

You may be interested to know that Heinz is preparing to announce a Global Sustainable Palm Oil initiative to reduce our Company’s palm oil usage by 25 to 30% and convert to 100% certified sustainable palm oil. Heinz expects to announce these plans this summer. We are aiming to deliver the usage reductions within the next year and complete the transition to 100% certified palm oil by 2013.

Heinz is a member of the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO), an association formed in 2004 to promote the growth and use of sustainable oil palm products through credible global standards and the engagement of stakeholders. As an RSPO member, Heinz is a relatively small user of palm oil.

We are currently committed to buying palm oil exclusively from suppliers who are RSPO members and ascribe to the association’s principles.

In addition to our sustainable palm oil plan, Heinz launched a global sustainability initiative in 2008 to achieve a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, energy consumption, solid waste and water consumption by 2015. As we disclosed in our 2009 CSR Report, Heinz is making excellent progress in these categories and we are on track to achieve our environmental goals.

Yours sincerely

Geoff Kearsley
Consumer Care Co-ordinator