How Can Food & Feed Companies Build a Sustainability Roadmap?

A successful sustainability journey begins with the organization’s objectives. Companies may be responding to regulation or requests from customers, retailers, or other stakeholders. Sustainability may also support efficiency, risk management, resilience, market access, reputation, or long-term value creation. Understanding these drivers helps an organization define its ambition and focus its resources.

A gap analysis provides an objective view of the organization’s current maturity. It may review policies, governance, environmental performance, social responsibility, supply chain management, data availability, reporting processes, certifications, and management systems. The result is a clearer picture of the organization’s strengths, gaps, risks, and improvement opportunities. “Many organizations are already doing more than they realize,” says Annelies. “A gap analysis brings existing activities together and shows where further work is needed.”

Organizations should focus on the topics most relevant to their activities, products, markets, stakeholders, and value chain. Priorities may include food waste, greenhouse gas emissions, energy, water, biodiversity, responsible sourcing, labor practices, packaging, and supply chain transparency. “One common misconception is that sustainability is only about environmental performance or obtaining a certificate,” Annelies explains. “It is a broader business transformation involving governance, social responsibility, measurable performance, and long-term value creation.”

Once priorities have been identified, they should be translated into objectives, actions, responsibilities, timelines, KPIs, data requirements, and review processes. “The roadmap makes sustainability more manageable,” says Annelies. “It turns ambition into specific actions and provides a clear basis for implementation and monitoring.”

Sustainability often involves procurement, operations, food safety, quality, compliance, finance, HR, sustainability specialists, and senior management. Bringing these functions together helps make sustainability part of normal decision-making rather than a separate project. “Food safety will always remain a foundation of the industry,” says Annelies. “Sustainability adds another dimension that must be connected to everyday processes, responsibilities, and data.”

Reliable data allows organizations to assess their progress and provide credible information. Depending on their objectives, organizations may use reporting frameworks, carbon footprint assessments, life cycle assessments, independent verification, certification, testing, inspection, or other assurance services. There is no single solution for every company. The right approach depends on the organization’s maturity, regulatory requirements, sector-specific challenges, customer expectations, and what it wants to demonstrate. “Verification or certification should support a clearly defined objective,” says Annelies. “Kiwa helps organizations assess their needs and identify the services or schemes that best support their sustainability goals and business strategy. Sustainability is not a one-time project, but a continuous improvement journey. Kiwa supports food and feed companies throughout this process, from initial assessment and roadmap development to implementation, verification, certification, and ongoing improvement.