Fifty five food and drink companies have landed Gold Membership Origin Green awards in 2022 for sustainability targets set by the Bord Bia sustainability programme.
The awards recognise companies based on their performances throughout the year in areas such as raw material sourcing, water and energy sufficiency, waste reduction, packaging and social sustainability.
Since its inception in 2020, three companies have been awarded Gold Membership each year - Butlers Chocolates, Norfish and Slaney Foods. Overall, over 130 companies have been awarded the certification.
Awardees came from 18 counties and from sectors across the board, like seafood and aquaculture, dairy, meat, confectionery, beverages, and horticulture.
Deirdre Ryan, Director of Origin Green and Sustainable Assurance at Bord Bia, said: “The aim of Origin Green and its members is to inspire the entire Irish food and drink industry towards sustainable production, and it gives me great pleasure to announce 55 new Gold Members for 2022.
“Our annual Gold Member event, now in its third year, recognises the efforts of companies which have achieved exceptional annual performance across their sustainability targets,” said Ryan.
“Since the inception of the Gold Membership in 2020, it has strengthened the ambition of our members and encouraged Irish food and drink companies to increase their sustainability efforts in order to differentiate themselves from the competition in the marketplace.”
Interim CEO of Bord Bia, Michael Murphy, added: “As the world’s only national food and drink sustainability programme, Origin Green is instrumental in proving and improving sustainability across our industry and demonstrating this to customers around the world.
“It’s wonderful to see this acceleration of sustainability actions thrive across our food and drink sector, as we celebrate and recognise the exceptional sustainability results of our 55 Gold Members today.”
Since its establishment in 2012, the Origin Green programme has been embedding sustainability across the national food supply chain.