Tyson Foods

No leading practices were identified for the company in the governance and strategy measurement area

No leading practices were identified for the company in the environment measurement area

No leading practices were identified for the company in the nutrition measurement area

No leading practices were identified for the company in the social inclusion measurement area

Sustainable development strategy
The company outlines five broad sustainability commitments and sets time-bound targets underneath each, reporting on progress and covering topics across all three benchmark measurement areas. It also outlines its process for identifying and prioritising key topics, through a detailed materiality process which occured in 2018. Tyson Foods could further strengthen its strategy by setting further targets which address its value chain influence as well as its operations.

Governance and accountability for sustainable development strategy
Tyson Foods reports that accountability for implementing its sustainability strategy lies with its chief sustainability officer, who reports to the CEO, and not its highest governance body in the board of directors, offering the company an opportunity to strengthen its accountability process. It could also disclose whether it ties executive remuneration to sustainability performance outcomes.

Stakeholder engagement
The company discloses key stakeholder groups, areas of focus and how it engages and interacts with each group, alongside key partnerships it is involved with. Tyson Foods could strengthen its performance on this topic by disclosing how it identifies it key stakeholders, and by incorporating topics across all three benchmark measurement areas into its engagement activities.

Protection of natural terrestrial ecosystems
Tyson Foods discloses a Forest Protection Standard, which selected a third party to assess the deforestation risk of its sourced commodities including beef, palm oil and soy and concluded that 94% were at zero to low risk. While the company sets cut-off and target sourcing dates for all commodities, it has an opportunity to disclose the current proportions which are deforestation and conversion free, as well as the primary locations from which it sources.

Scope 1, 2 and 3 greenhouse gas emissions
The company has a time-bound target to reduce GHG emissions by 30% by 2030, as well as a net zero GHG emissions target across its global operations and supply chain by 2050. However, the company demonstrates that it is not progressing towards this target with an discloses an increase in scope 1 and 2 emissions between 2016-20, and could further strengthen its commitment by aligning its targets to a 1.5-degrees warming trajectory.

Animal welfare
Tyson Foods discloses a group-wide animal welfare statement and reports on individual key welfare metrics for its main species, demonstrating progress or maintenance on transport liveability, non-damaged wings and acceptable paw sores for its broilers, and similarly for no falls, not prodded and acceptable wait times for its cattle and hogs. While the company demonstrates that it carries out third party audits in its domestic operations, it also reports that it began benchmarking key welfare indicators and third party audits for facilities in China and Thailand in 2020, demonstrating an opportunity to ensure the global application of its animal welfare policy.

Antibiotic use and growth promoting substances
The company reports that it does not use antibiotics to prevent diseases from occurring, but could improve its performance by disclosing processes taken to implement this policy, such as audit and verification processes.

Water use
Tyson Foods discloses a time-bound target to reduce water intensity by 12% by 2020, reporting a 7.7% decrease in its 2020 reporting. It also works with the World Resources Institute (WRI) to map water-stressed regions in its own operations and develop a water stewardship strategy. The company also reports that it has ambitions to optimize sustainable land stewardship practices in its supply chain but could further strengthen this commitment by also mapping water stressed regions amongst its suppliers.

Protein diversification
The company has developed a plant-based protein nugget product range for its European markets, but has an opportunity to further strengthen its commitment to diversifying proteins within its portfolio by setting sales-based targets and reporting against these.

Availability of healthy food
Tyson Foods discloses qualitative evidence to demonstrate that it is increasing the availability of healthy food, reporting that it is reducing sodium and increasing the number of organic products, while also increasing the number of food service products that meet school nutrition regulations for fat, sodium and calorie content. However, it does not support these commitments with supporting quantitative evidence or time-bound targets.

Accessibility and affordability of healthy food
The company does not disclose a commitment and activities to improve the accessibility and affordability of healthy foods for vulnerable groups, only addressing this topic via philanthropic means.

Clear and transparent labelling
Tyson Foods reports that it complies with national regulations with regard to back-of-pack product labelling,but has an opportunity to improve its performance by adopting an intuitive front-of-pack labelling scheme to better inform consumers on the nutritional content of its products.

Food safety
The company reports that many of its plants are certified to a Global Food Safety Initiative standard, but does not disclose that these certifications cover 100% of its operations. Tyson Foods also has an opportunity to disclose how it is working with its suppliers to address this issue.

Farmer productivity and resilience
Tyson Foods has a goal to strengthen farmer resilience by supporting best practices that improve yields, soil health, environmental outputs and farm profits. It reports on how it provides technical and agronomic assistance to improve yields, but could improve its performance by disclosing quantitative data to better demonstrate the impact that its programmes are having at the farm level.

Child labour
While the company commits to prohibiting child labour in its own operations and requires its suppliers to adhere to the same standard, it has an opportunity to disclose a policy requiring its suppliers to have an age-verification system in place.

Forced labour
While the company commits to prohibiting forced labour in its own operations and supply chain, it has an opportunity to disclose a requirement that prohibits its suppliers from retaining workers’ personal documents and restricting workers’ freedom of movement.

Health and safety of vulnerable groups
Tyson Foods identifies its truck drivers as an employee group that faces a distinct set of risks, but does not disclose further information on how it looks to mitigate these risks or extend its monitoring of specific health and safety risks to vulnerable groups in its supply chain.

Tyson Foods discloses a commitment to respect the human rights of its workers and has a grievance mechanisms that is accessible to both employees and external stakeholders. However, the company lacks disclosure on how it identifies, assesses and takes action to address its human rights salient risks in both its operations and supply chain. Similarly, although it discloses that it conducts stakeholder surveys, it does not identify these stakeholders or, more specifically, identify those whose human rights have potentially or actually been impacted.

The company publicly commits to respecting the health and safety of workers and expects the same of its business relationships, and also discloses the proportion of its global workforce that is covered by collective bargaining agreements. However, it lacks explicit commitments to gender equality and women’s empowerment and does not disclose significant data relating to the diversity of its workforce. Tyson Foods could further improve its score by committing to paying its workers a living wage and expecting the same of its suppliers.

The company publicly commits to protecting personal data, and has a policy prohibiting, a grievance mechanisms and clauses in contracts with business relationships for bribery and corruption. Although the company discloses federal, state and foreign income taxes, it does not accompany these with a global tax strategy. Similarly, the company does disclose its approach to lobbying and political engagement through a code of conduct, but does not explicitly state that it doesn’t make political contributions, nor provide its lobbying expenditures.