2019 highlights include:
- 31,000 free learning opportunities were offered for employees in the food and consumer goods industry
- More than 160 companies signed up to the IGD-WRAP Food Waste Reduction Roadmap
- 150 organisations downloaded Sizing up the opportunity: a guide to setting portion size
Operating with four areas of focus – People, Health and Wellness, Sustainability and Economic Analysis – IGD enables companies to work collaboratively on projects that are crucial to ensure the industry continues to deliver for shoppers.
Susan Barratt, CEO at IGD, said: “For businesses, the value of purpose is increasing. Companies can no longer simply sell a product – what that product and the organisation stand for is now also of crucial value to the consumer. I am therefore immensely proud to lead IGD, an organisation with an incredibly strong sense of purpose, which is to deliver public benefit through the food and consumer goods industry. Our charitable initiatives have increased in scope and scale this year and it has been incredible to see the value of what can be achieved when the industry works together.”
Further highlights from IGD’s charitable initiatives in 2019 include:
People: As part of IGD’s aim to support everyone working in the food and consumer goods industry on their lifelong learning journey, more than 1,000 people from 170 companies participated in Fast Track, which provides an introduction to the industry. In addition, 13,500 school students took part in IGD’s employability programmes.
Health and Wellness: This initiative brings people from across the food and consumer goods industry together to promote healthy, balanced diets. Reducing portion size is a key tactic for businesses to meet national public health targets and reduce calorie intake. Supported by consumer research and a group of industry experts, IGD launched its new guide to help businesses review and set portion sizes more consistently, which has so far been downloaded by more than 150 companies.
Sustainability: IGD’s projects enable collaboration across the supply chain to help the industry deliver against the sustainability challenges of the 21stcentury. IGD and WRAP’s Food Waste Reduction Roadmap, launched in September 2018, helps food businesses measure waste more consistently. One year on, more than 160 UK food businesses have committed to target, measure and act on food waste – representing more than half of the UK food industry by turnover.
Economic Analysis: IGD helps companies and government departments prepare for the short- and long-term implications of Brexit to minimise disruption for consumers. Producing a regular stream of research on Brexit has included tracking shopper attitudes, member surveys, industry expert group discussions and analysis of government advice. In 2019, IGD played a key role in creating the Brexit Food Hub, a FAQ website for the food and consumer goods industry.