Responsibility

Sourcing

With help from several external organizations, General Mills has developed a sustainable sourcing model  for ingredients we purchase to make our products.

We are signatories to the United Nations Global Compact (UNGC)  and are guided by the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work.

Our Code of Conduct  and Workplace Standard and Ethical Sourcing Policy help our employees understand these issues, and act in accordance with company policies addressing employee health and safety, labor standards, environmental protection, and anti-corruption. 

We hold our suppliers to these same principles. Our Supplier Code of Conduct  details our expectations of our suppliers in these areas. 

Together, our Workplace Standards and Ethical Sourcing Policy and our Supplier Code of Conduct set standards for ourselves, as well as for our suppliers, vendors and other business partners, regarding the protection of human rights. These standards are based in part on the ILO 1998 Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work. 

Guided by the 1998 Declaration, General Mills respects the principles of collective bargaining and freedom of association, and prohibition of discrimination, child labor and forced labor – including that associated with human trafficking. A third party auditing program helps ensure – should we find or become aware of violations of our standards – required remediation.

We care about our ingredients and the lives of the people who produce them:

• In 2011, we joined the World Cocoa Foundation (WCF). This 70-member nonprofit group is working to encourage socially, economically and environmentally responsible and sustainable cocoa farming. It is a multiyear effort that reflects General Mills’ core beliefs.
• General Mills is funding cutting-edge research to map the vanilla genome. Already under way at the University of California–Davis, this research will help lay the foundation for natural and conventional breeding improvements to increase disease resistance or even to enhance flavor.
• To help ensure that our purchases of palm oil are not in any way associated with deforestation of rainforests, and to reinforce the development of certified sustainable palm oil production practices, General Mills has committed to striving to source 100 percent of our palm oil from responsible and sustainable sources by 2015.
• In Europe, Häagen-Dazs – our largest international business – is working with local suppliers to increase the volume of eggs available from freerange hens. As a result, we now expect to source 100 percent free-range for all Häagen-Dazs products in Europe in 2013, while continuing to support local sourcing and local suppliers.

We are gratified that our efforts to operate sustainably and ethically have been recognized by several third-party groups, such as the Ethisphere Institute, Corporate Responsibility magazine and Forbes.  We are committed to reinforcing and elevating our standards every day.