Food Talks 2017: Cees de Jong, CEO, Chr. Hansen

We have a moral obligation and also a business opportunity. The topic is not only important for Chr. Hansen. There is something that I see: one of the numbers that stuck with me is that we could feed the world enough to feed the millions of people that suffer from hunger. I want to focus on two things: giving consumers easy solutions to make the right choices. I would like to give my reflections on the importance of that. Many of you may know Chr. Hansen, the manufacturer of bacteria and enzymes. Every day, more than one billion people consume products made with our ingredients. We need to give consumers easy solutions. It is quite difficult to change people's habits. I think that businesses have a responsibility to provide easy solutions to consumers, making it easy for them to make the right choice. We need to transform and engage the general public. Consumer groups will go far to reduce food waste. Only by working together can we finish it completely. We must ensure that the general public uses plug-and-play solutions. It may be fun to find innovative solutions for niche markets, but it is more important to value impactful solutions for the single mode we took. In Denmark, we have a heavy variant in between. Chr. Hansen's bioprotection can give consumers fresh products. By using protective bacteria, we can keep food fresh. We looked at consumer trends: consumers want healthy and natural products, clean labels without artificial ingredients. They want good taste and safe food at affordable prices. Therefore, if we want to encourage consumers to reduce food waste, we need to give them plug-and-play solutions. Bioprotection is a natural bacteria that can be used in dairy products. It keeps product fresh longer, which means consumers have more time to consume, and it keeps the nutritional value without significant cost. Bioprotection is a natural bacteria that has been used for centuries. The dairy industry in Denmark assessed second highest in terms of amount of waste. 156 million tons of dairy production are wasted in Denmark alone. Only fruits and vegetables have higher waste. 17% of yogurt is thrown out. We commissioned an independent consultancy to assess how much waste could be reduced by using bioprotection. The solution is natural and can extend the best before date. The last point is very important for consumers: they want natural products. We have an example of the type of solutions private companies can contribute to help us reduce food waste. I also want to talk about the importance of setting targets. For me and my leadership team, it was crucial to put numbers in our sustainability strategy. We set a target to reduce global food waste by half by 2020. We need to focus on what can have the biggest impact. For Chr. Hansen, that is the dairy industry. We work with the main dairy companies in the world to make a difference. That brings me to the benefit of the UN Global Goals in developing our sustainability strategy. They provide excellent anchors for setting science-based targets. We assessed our entire product portfolio to find the biggest impact. We identified tasks based on easy-to-use solutions. The UN Global Goals provide a platform to collaborate with all stakeholders using the same language. The global challenge of food waste cannot be solved by one company alone. We need to work with customers, investors, and NGOs to provide solutions. We welcome partners and customers to join us.