Griffith Foods issues shout out for skilled labour to tackle green incentives
“We’re growing aggressively – our top line [in] double digits; bottom line, almost triple digits,” Wim Van Roekel, president Europe, Griffith Foods, told BakeryandSnacks at the recent Food Ingredients Europe (FiE 2019), held in Paris, France, at the beginning of the month.
“We want to continue [increasing] our positive impact on the world – and, in order to do so, we need very talented people.”
The Herentals, Belgium-based company – which has strived for the past centenary to make a positive impact on the world with a decreased impact on the planet itself – won a prestigious FiE Innovation Award for its Vegetable based Never Fry coating system.
Green offerings
The brightly coloured, ‘oven only’ coating system consists of dehydrated vegetables, resulting in a more natural and healthier coating that retains taste and essential nutrients, such as minerals, proteins and fibre.
Unlike traditional coating systems fried in oil, the novel product imparts an overall fat reduction of more than 30%. Additionally, the quality of the fat stays intact and the risk of unhealthy oxidation formation is significantly reduced due to the limited heat exposure.
Griffiths was also an FiE Award Finalist for its flavouring system that assists snack manufacturers with the reduction of sodium. Based on green banana flour – a side stream of banana production – the seasoning also offers producers an essential food waste utilisation opportunity.
Both these – and others from Griffiths – compound its mission to align itself with the UN’s Sustainability Goals for 2030.
“The company has defined eight areas out of the UN’s Global Sustainability Goals, centred around its Triple P program – planet, people, performance – including the reduction of waste, renewable energy, reduction of energy per se in its factories, reduction of packaging materials as well as the use of sustainable materials, to name some,” said Van Roekel.
“So far we are on track; having said that, there’s still a long way to go because it’s very ambitious goals and we’re trying to integrate this in the way we do business.”
He added that clean label will continue to be important, “we are focusing on [developing] propositions that deliver a reduction of anything that is not good for you, while increasing those that are good for you – that’s already a sustainable trend in the industry”, as well as reducing anything that has a lesser impact on the planet.
Watch the video to find out more about the company and its green goals.
