More than one-third of Nature's Pride's turnover now comes from fresh produce that is independently certified under the Fair For Life system.
A rising proportion of the Maasdijk-based firm's avocados, asparagus, baby corn, haricots verts, lemongrass, mangoes, okra, mangoes, snow peas, sugar snaps and - for the first time – berries have been audited against the Fair For Life system by Switzerland's Institute for Marketecology.
Social responsibility manager Els Lindeboom told Eurofruit the exotics specialist was aiming to get its biggest line, avocados, certified year-round by the end of 2013.
Higher-level Fair for Life - Fair Trade status has been conferred upon Nature's Pride's mangoes.
As well as a general commitment to social responsibility, this certificate carries a guarantee of a minimum price for growers and a premium – usually around 7c per box or 1c per fruit – paid by consumers to Nature's Pride's Fair For Life Foundation.
'If you sell tens of millions of mangoes, that translates into a big sum for social projects,' said Lindeboom.
The distribution of funds is determined by those working for the firm's growers.
They have so far chosen to invest in a daycare centre in Peru, which should be finished this year, health insurance for workers in the Dominican Republic and upgrades to worker housing in Brazil and Mexico.
Back home in Maasdijk, Nature’s Pride has also been improving labour conditions, offering induction training for temporary workers and providing language lessons to immigrant employees.
All of this has required the recruitment of a second CSR officer and has been taking place alongside the construction of Nature's Pride's new, larger headquarters on a site 300m from its current base.
Work began in February and Lindeboom is hopeful that the business will move in time for Christmas to BREEAM-certified premises that include 500m2 of solar cells, use rainwater for flushing toilets and benefit from an environmentally friendly cooling system.
In the next phase Nature’s Pride hopes to construct a windmill, for which it is now working on a special permit.
