Practical sustainability initiatives adopted by food companies and the future role of eco-labels were extensively debated at the Sustainable Foods Summit. The executive summit brought together 140 executives from various sectors of the food industry in Amsterdam on 10-11th June.  

Major discussions centered on the future directions of eco-labels and third party standards. The food industry has over 500 eco-labels that represent various production and environmental aspects, however a growing number of companies and retailers are turning away from eco-labels and focusing on building ecological brands. At the summit, two leading European retailers - Co-op Switzerland and Albert Heijn - gave details of their private labels for sustainable products. They argued that brands have greater resonance with consumer demand for sustainability products, compared to third party standards.  

Organised by Organic Monitor, the Sustainable Foods Summit looked at sustainability initiatives and eco-labels adopted by the food industry to lower their ecological and social impacts.

Kicking off the summit was an opening address by Irish Minister Ciarán Cuffe, followed by the first session on "The Sustainability Initiatives" that showcased pioneering sustainability initiatives in the food industry. Speakers included two food companies presenting papers on their pioneering initiatives: Bruno Vanwelsenaers from Provamel, one of the leading brands of soya products in Europe, gave details on how the brand became carbon neutral this year, while Nestlé, one of the world's largest food companies, gave details of its pioneering water footprint labelling scheme.

With fair trade the fastest growing sector of the global eco-labelled food market, the second session focused on "The potential of fair trade". Papers were given by three of the leading certification schemes for fair trade products: Fairtrade Labelling Organisation International (FLO), Institute for Marketecology (IMO) and Ecocert.

The Sustainable Foods Summit also highlighted practical sustainability initiatives undertaken by food companies, using case studies of pioneering companies, including Alter Eco, Provamel, Altromercato, Followfish and EOSTA.

Craig Sams, founder and president of the global brand of ethical chocolate Green & Black’s, opened the second day of the summit with his key note on corporate ethics. His opening speech set the tone for the third session on "Ethical Marketing", opened by Amarjit Sahota, director of Organic Monitor. Also in this session, Co-op Switzerland and Albert Heijn gave details of their ethical retailing and sustainability initiatives.  

The last session focused on sustainable sourcing & packaging. Michele Fite from Solae highlighted the potential of soya as a sustainable ingredient to meet the world’s nutritional requirements.

Other papers looked at traceability in the supply chain and the challenges of commodity sourcing, and case studies were given of ethical products – such as organic salads, fair trade beverages and natural cosmetics – with sustainable packaging. The growing application of compostable packaging was further elaborated by Novamont.

In the closing remarks of the summit, some of the major debates and discussions were summarised. The chair highlighted major questions raised at the summit that included: What is a sustainable food product? How do you define sustainability? Will there ever be a sustainability standard, or uniform sustainability eco-label? Is third party certification or private labels the way forward? What is the future of carbon, water and energy footprints? How can eco-labels meet rising consumer expectations? The next editions of the Sustainable Foods Summit plan to address and debate such questions.  

The next editions of the Sustainable Foods Summit will take place in North America and Europe in 2011. The dates and venues will be announced shortly.

The proceedings of the 2010 summit are available upon request. See http://www.sustainablefoodssummit.com/registration.htm for further details.

The summit pictures are available at http://www.sustainablefoodssummit.com/galleryjune2010/summitpics.htm