Evolved Strategic Blueprint outlines the
Company's core strategies for continued success
MISSISSAUGA, ON, April 30,
2024 /PRNewswire/ - Maple Leaf Foods Inc. (TSX:
MFI), today released its second annual Integrated Report, building
on over a decade of sustainability reporting and bringing together
its 2023 financial and sustainability performance into one
report.
In his Letter to Stakeholders, Maple Leaf Foods' President and
CEO, Curtis Frank, reflects on his first year as CEO. "Perhaps
our proudest accomplishment is that throughout a year of intense
transition and disruption, our commitment to creating Shared Value
for all our stakeholders has been unwavering," said Frank. "We
worked hard as a team to stabilize the financial performance of our
business, realize the benefits of our recent capital investments
and put the right plans and people in place to capitalize on the
platform we have built for the future."
Maple Leaf Foods is recognized as a purpose-driven, globally
admired and brand-led CPG company with the vision to be the most
sustainable protein company on Earth — an ambition it maintains
through the execution of five core strategies outlined in its newly
released, evolved Blueprint. The Company's core strategies
are:
- Lead the Way: By making better food, taking better care,
and nurturing a better planet.
- Build Loved Brands: By growing the relevance of its
portfolio of leading brands, delivering impactful innovation, and
leveraging the unique capabilities of its people.
- Broaden Our Impact: By expanding its geographic
reach, developing new channels and categories, and diversifying its
protein portfolio.
- Operate with Excellence: By harnessing advanced
technologies, applying data science and analytics, and driving cost
efficiency.
- Develop Extraordinary Talent: By embedding its
values-based culture, investing in future ready leaders, and
inspiring enduring engagement.
Sustainability vision
Maple Leaf Foods' vision to be the most sustainable protein
company on Earth is built on five pillars: Better Food, Better Care
for Our People, Better Care for Communities, Better Animal Care,
and a Better Planet. The Company tracks progress toward achieving
its vision against these pillars, including the goals and
milestones set along the way.
Better Food
In 2023, Maple Leaf Foods launched a new Maple Leaf Natural
Selections® offering of deli meats with its simplest ingredients
ever, proudly containing only premium meat and real, simple and
natural ingredients, supporting its ambition to be a leader of the
real food movement. The Company is also simplifying and
increasing the legibility of its packaging with Maple Leaf-branded
products with claims appearing on front of pack which are easier to
read.
The Company proudly reports that multiple products within its
portfolio ranked #1 in Canada,
including: Schneiders® for packaged meats, the Mina Halal® brand in
fresh poultry, Greenfield Natural Meat Co.® for sustainable
packaged meats, and Maple Leaf Prime® for fresh poultry.
Additionally, Maple Leaf® is the #2 brand in packaged meats in
Canada, Field RoastTM
is the #3 brand in the U.S. for refrigerated plant protein, and
Lightlife® is the #1 brand in Tempeh, plant-based hot dogs, and
plant-based bacon.
Better Care for Our People
Caring for people, including ensuring their safety and
well-being, is a key priority at Maple Leaf Foods. In 2023, the
Company completed social compliance audits at its five largest
facilities and moved forward with an enhanced social compliance
program. The Company announced that it would be launching an
independent third-party human rights impact assessment focusing on
migrant workers within its workforce. Advancing the Company's
social compliance programs, including conducting social audits and
human rights impact assessments, are important elements of
advancing social responsibility, compliance and human rights within
operations and the supply chain.
In 2023, Maple Leaf Foods achieved a Total Recordable Incident
Rate (TRIR) of 0.40, a 93.6% improvement from its 2012 baseline
year, and 32 of its sites had zero recordable injuries. This
reflects the Company's relentless commitment to workplace safety,
its Safety Promise, and continuous improvement in safety protocols.
In 2023, Maple Leaf Foods had zero fatalities, a trend that has
continued for more than a decade.
In line with Maple Leaf Foods' Diversity and Inclusion
Blueprint, the Company also developed new, impactful goals to
advance diversity, promote equity, and maintain a steadfast focus
on fostering an inclusive culture within the organization.
Better Care for Communities
For Maple Leaf Foods, enhancing community well-being is a core
focus, extending from within the organization to the broader
society.
The Maple Leaf Centre for Food Security ("the Centre")
celebrated its seventh anniversary in 2023, having committed more
than $12.4 million to 33 initiatives
seeking to address underlying drivers of food insecurity that span
coast-to-coast-to-coast. The Centre has also advocated for
government policies and led awareness-raising campaigns to engage
Canadians and drive systemic change. The Centre joined several
Canadian foundations to provide funding for Ontario's Student Nutrition Program and First
Nations Student Nutrition Program. Along with funds provided by the
Government of Ontario, this effort
contributed $5 million towards school
food programs across the province.
Maple Leaf Foods employees volunteered their time in more than
40 communities across Canada
through the Company's Raise the Good in the Neighbourhood volunteer
program. Employees volunteered with their local food banks, in
healthcare institutions and hospitals, for local community centres,
with newcomer services, and more, contributing to a greater
understanding of the challenges and causes that groups are facing
while building connections within communities.
Better Animal Care
Maple Leaf Foods is proud to have completed the transition of
its Ontario poultry processing
operations to its new, world-class London Poultry facility. As part
of this transition, the Company now uses humane controlled
atmosphere stunning for all of the poultry it processes. The
Company's poultry processing facilities are now all equipped with
modular loading, best-in-class environmentally controlled indoor
lairage, and technology that eliminates the need to handle birds
before they are rendered insensible.
In 2023, Maple Leaf Foods published a comprehensive Poultry
Welfare Approach which has 13 areas of focus to ensure the health
and well-being of its chickens at all steps in the poultry supply
chain. At the broiler level, areas of focus include environmental
enrichments, lighting, stocking density, air and litter management,
antibiotic use, breed, and humane euthanasia.
Maple Leaf Foods remains committed to the elimination of
gestation stalls for sows, and 100% of the Company's owned sow
spaces meet open sow housing standards in accordance with the
National Farm Animal Care Council (NFACC) Code of Practice and
Canadian Pork Excellence PigCARE program. The Company achieved its
leading goal of converting all owned sow spaces (69,850 sow spaces)
to its Advanced Open Sow Housing system as of the end of 2021,
which now represents 93% of our sow spaces following the Company's
acquisition of additional sow barns.
Maple Leaf Foods is deeply committed to reducing the use of
antibiotics in its animals while ensuring animals receive treatment
when needed to protect their welfare. In 2023, antibiotic use in
the pigs Maple Leaf Foods raises continued trending downward. Since
2014, the Company has reduced antibiotic usage by 99.3% across its
owned hog production operations.
Better Planet
In 2015, Maple Leaf Foods set targets to reduce its
environmental footprint by 50% by 2025 (2014 baseline), in five key
areas: electricity, natural gas, water, solid waste (2015 baseline)
and food loss and waste (2016 baseline). The electricity and
natural gas targets were considered interim targets on the path
towards its science-based targets approved by the Science Based
Targets initiative (SBTi) to reduce the Company's absolute Scope 1
& 2 emissions by 30% by 2030 (2018 baseline).
While Maple Leaf Foods has made progress across these areas, the
pace of progress has been hampered by a
number of factors, including the impact of the global
pandemic which delayed a number of initiatives, as well as the
timing of ramping up its new facilities and the lag in
decommissioning associated legacy plants. The Company
recognizes the challenges associated with setting aggressive
science-based targets and is committed to transparent updates on
its progress towards these sustainability goals.
In 2023, Maple Leaf Foods was a founding member of the Canadian
Alliance for Net-Zero Agri-Food (CANZA), a national, industry-led,
multi-stakeholder alliance of RBC, Maple Leaf Foods, Nutrien,
McCain Foods, Loblaw, BCG and The Natural Step Canada and the Smart
Prosperity Institute in collaboration with the Arrell Food
Institute at the University of Guelph.
CANZA is committed to driving sustainable outcomes in Canada's agri-food sector. As an integral
driver of the Canadian economy, this sector is also a significant
emitter of greenhouse gas. CANZA promotes the adoption of
regenerative agriculture and carbon farming practices, offering an
opportunity to transform the sector and create a circular, net-zero
agri-food supply value. By collaborating with farmers to achieve
nature-positive outcomes, the alliance is committed to building a
more sustainable future for agriculture.
Maple Leaf Foods partnered with Nutrien, the world's largest
provider of crop inputs, for the fourth consecutive year to expand
regenerative agriculture efforts. Through Nutrien's carbon program,
they support growers, drive sustainability, and boost
profitability. This work aligns with the Company's goal of sourcing
sustainable feed by reducing the carbon footprint of purchased
crops. Maple Leaf Foods has doubled its investments in regenerative
practices year over year for the past three years and has scaled
its efforts from 19,000 acres to 160,000 acres.
To learn more about sustainability at Maple Leaf Foods,
visit: https://www.mapleleaffoods.com/our-commitments/
Forward–Looking Statements
This document contains, and the Company's oral and written
public communications often contain, "forward-looking information"
within the meaning of applicable securities law. These statements
are based on current expectations, estimates, projections, beliefs,
judgements and assumptions based on information available at the
time the applicable forward-looking statement was made and in light
of the Company's experience combined with its perception of
historical trends. By their nature, forward-looking statements
involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors
that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from
those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. The Company
believes the expectations reflected in the forward-looking
statements are reasonable, but no assurance can be given that these
expectations will prove to be correct and such forward-looking
statements should not be unduly relied upon. For the full statement
around forward-looking information, please refer to the
2023 Annual Report to Shareholders.
About Maple Leaf Foods Inc.
Maple Leaf Foods is a carbon neutral company with a
vision to be the most sustainable protein company on Earth,
responsibly producing food products under leading brands including
Maple Leaf®, Maple Leaf Prime®, Maple Leaf Natural Selections®,
Schneiders®, Schneiders® Country Naturals®, Mina®, Greenfield
Natural Meat Co.®, Lightlife® and Field Roast™. The Company
employs approximately 13,500 people and does business primarily in
Canada, the U.S. and Asia. The Company is headquartered in
Mississauga, Ontario and its
shares trade on the Toronto Stock Exchange (MFI).
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SOURCE Maple Leaf Foods Inc.