Hormel applauded for corporate citizenship

The company's recognition marks its sixth consecutive year appearing on the list.

Positive contribution​

Hormel Foods manager of external communications Kelly Braaten told FoodProductionDaily the recognition reflects the company’s commitment to improving its environmental footprint, and creating a positive work environmental for employees.

“At Hormel Foods, corporate responsibility is about how we conduct our business every day, in everything we do​,” she said. “It’s about creating value for society—for our consumers, our shareholders, our employees and our communities​.”

Hitting the mark​

Braaten told FPD the firm set a number of environmental responsibility goals two years ago.

“We had planned to reduce water use, solid waste sent to landfills, greenhouse gas emissions, and non-renewable energy use by 10% percent by 2020​,” she said. “Also, we aimed to reduce product packaging by 25m pounds by 2020​.”

Shortly after setting its sustainability goals, Braaten said, Hormel Foods made marked progress.

“We were able to make reductions against all of our targets, including the reduction of 4.05m pounds of packaging​,” she said. “Our 2013 progress toward these goals will be released in our 2013 Corporate Responsibility Report in May​.”

The list measures nearly 300 different aspects of a company’s performance and corporate philosophy. Factors gauged include environment, climate change, employee relations, human rights, governance, finance, and philanthropy.