Nomad Foods

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

Commitment to sustainable fisheries and aquaculture
Nomad Foods has set a clear commitment that 100% of fish and seafood will be sourced from sustainable fishing and responsible farming practices by the end of 2025. The company reports that, as of 2020, 96% of its seafood products are certified by the MSC or ASC, and that in some of its markets it has achieved its goal of 100% MSC or ASC certified seafood products since the end of 2019.

Ecosystem impacts of fisheries
Nomad Foods addresses the ecosystem impacts of the fisheries it sources from by sourcing from certified fisheries. As of 2020, the company reports that 97% of the wild-caught products in its portfolio has been MSC certified, which makes it one of the companies that is closest to a fully certified portfolio. Nomad Foods ensures that it sources from well-managed fisheries with limited impacts on by-catch and other marine species, as well as marine habitats. The company also shares how it works to support fisheries to become certified, such as the Namibian hake fishery which became MSC certified in November 2020.

Abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear
By becoming a member of the Global Ghost Gear Initiative, Nomad Foods shows it is committed to tackling ALDFG. Furthermore, given that the MSC standard addresses ecosystems impacts associated with ghost gear, by having high levels of MSC certified products in its supply chain, Nomad mitigate risks associated with ALDFG. Lastly, it is one of the few companies that has done an assessment of the use of fishing gear in its supply chain. The company also discloses the risk levels of the different gear that its supplying fisheries have used.

Commitment to traceability
Nomad Foods has a time-bound target to source MSC- and ASC-certified seafood by the end of 2025. To maintain the integrity of certified products, supply chains that handle these products must also have Chain of Custody certification. This provides assurance that throughout the supply chain, certified products are segregated from non-certified products and are traceable back to a certified source.

Traceability system for seafood products and aquaculture feed ingredients
Nomad Foods describes its programme to address traceability, which includes laboratory testing of raw materials. Furthermore, its Chain of Custody certification means the company is able to trace back the origins of its MSC- and ASC- certified seafood, which represents 96% of its portfolio.

No leading practices were identified for the company in the area of social responsibility.

Sustainability development strategy
In its sustainable development strategy, Nomad Foods sets six time-bound targets across its three main areas: better sourcing, better nutrition and better operations. Within its better sourcing area, the company is committed to using 100% fish and seafood from sustainable fisheries and responsible farming by the end of 2025, and it reports progress against this target. However, while the company reports on employee health, safety and well-being, as well as on inclusion and diversity, it can further improve by setting specific time-bound targets for workers in its own operations and supply chain.

Governance and accountability
Responsibility for Nomad Foods’ sustainable development strategy lies its Sustainability Executive Committee, that is chaired by its sustainability director and includes Executive Committee members. The company has founded a Sustainability Advisory Board, that supports the Sustainability Executive Committee to drive further sustainability improvement. The company could further disclose information on its decision-making processes and oversight responsibilities, as well as linking sustainability objectives and targets to roles and remuneration.

Stakeholder engagement
While Nomad Foods engages with both internal and external stakeholders, including consumers to inform its materiality assessment, the company could still improve by disclosing how stakeholder feedback is incorporated into its strategy, outside of its materiality assessment. The company can also improve its stakeholder engagement activities by explaining how it identifies its stakeholders and disclosing the outcomes of these activities.

Engagement in policy advocacy
Nomad Foods provides examples of advocacy activities of the European Brand Association and the UK Waste and Resources Action Programme. Moreover, by being committed to sourcing MSC and ASC certified products, Nomad Foods supports the development and/or implementation of policies that support environmentally sustainable seafood production. However, the company has an opportunity to explain how these activities support implementing public policies or strengthening legislation in relation to seafood production. It could also disclose information about results and impacts of policy advocacy activities.

Animal welfare
Nomad Foods states that it is committed to sourcing from products that respect animal welfare and that its Policy on Animal Product Sourcing includes requirements for humane slaughtering. The company also mentions that it is working on developing its first aquatic animal welfare policy. However, it can still improve by setting time-bound targets that address key fish welfare issues and demonstrating how these issues in its supply chain are addressed.

Protection of terrestrial natural ecosystems
Nomad Foods has policies for responsibly sourced soya and palm oil, and its soya policy explicitly refers to the indirect use of soya through feed. The company has targets for both commodities and it reports that 12% of its soya is deforestation free and 99% is certified Segregated by the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil, as of 2020. The company can improve by providing transparency about the origin of its high-risk commodities and by disclosing the regions where it sources these commodities.

Antibiotic use and growth promoting substances
Nomad Foods states that, according to its Policy on Animal Product Sourcing, prophylactic use of antibiotics is not allowed, though it does not mention the use of antibiotics for growth promotion. A large portion of the company’s aquaculture products are ASC certified, and this standard does not allow antibiotics for prophylactic use or as growth promotor. The company, however, can improve by setting time-bound targets for zero use of growth-promoting substances and prophylactic use of antibiotics and by disclosing reports against these targets.

Risk-based approach to IUU fishing
Nomad Foods addresses IUU risks through sourcing seafood products that are certified by the MSC and ASC. Despite the fact that 96% of its seafood portfolio is certified, Nomad Foods can improve by detailing how it assesses IUU fishing risks for the part of its portfolio that is not certified and disclosing the outcome of those assessments.

Disclosure of the origin of its seafood and marine ingredients
Nomad Foods publicly discloses information about the origin of wild-caught seafood and aquaculture products through the consumer facing Captain’s Fish Finder, an online provenance tool. The company has an opportunity to further improve its disclosure by providing an overview of the origin and management status of all seafood products.

Forced labour
In its Supplier Code of Conduct, Nomad Foods has committed to prohibiting forced labour in its supply chain, but it has not made a similar commitment to prohibiting forced labour in its own operations. Furthermore, the company has an opportunity to disclose a requirement that prohibits its suppliers from retaining workers’ personal documents and/or restricting their freedom of movement.

Living wage
The company does not disclose that it pays its workers a living wage or requires its suppliers to do the same. Neither has it set targets to do so in the future.

Working and living conditions on board fishing vessels
Nomad Foods lays out requirements for its suppliers in its Supplier Code of Conduct. Although the company does not own fishing vessels, it does not disclose how it verifies decent working and living conditions on board fishing vessels in its supply chains. Nomad Foods can improve its performance on this topic by ensuring that working and living conditions on vessels in its supply chains are monitored, disclosing monitoring results and demonstrating how risks are mitigated and improvements are implemented, where needed.

Health and safety of vulnerable groups
Nomad Foods does not disclose that it specifically recognises the health and safety risks of vulnerable groups, such as migrant and temporary workers, women and young farmers and fishers.

Nomad Foods is committed to respecting human rights and has a grievance mechanism that is accessible to employees and external stakeholders. However, the company lacks disclosure on how it identifies, assesses and takes action to address salient human rights risks in its operations and supply chain. The company discloses its main stakeholders, but it does not identify those whose human rights have potentially or actually been impacted.

Nomad Foods has publicly committed to respecting the health and safety of its workers. It also requires suppliers to adhere to the same standard and monitors their performance. However, it lacks quantitative health and safety disclosure for its full workforce, as data provided only includes factory workers. The company discloses the proportion of its operations covered by collective bargaining agreements but does not reveal how it supports freedom of association and collective bargaining in its supply chain. Related to workforce diversity, the company provides data on gender but has an opportunity to do so for other markers of diversity as well, such as age. No commitments were found on other topics related to decent work, such as working hours, living wage, gender equality and women’s empowerment.

Nomad Foods is committed to protecting personal data and has a privacy statement on its use. The company discloses a global tax strategy and has identified executive-level for this strategy but does not disclose income tax payments for each of its tax jurisdictions. In its Code of Business Principles 2021, Nomad Foods prohibits bribery and corruption, as well as making political contributions. However, the company does not disclose how it identifies bribery and corruption risks and impacts in its own operations, nor its lobbying expenditures.