Tesco is making a concerted push to increase its ethical credentials further in a highly competitive marketplace.
The UK’s largest supermarket is to crank up its global ethical auditing as it looks to compete with Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Marks & Spencer.
One source said: “Marks & Spencer has been even more draconian than Tesco in ensuring ethical compliance. Where Tesco has asked for third party auditing from specific suppliers in certain countries, M&S has said whole countries need to be third-party audited.”
Sedex has become the industry standard programme for ethical auditing of growers.
The process asks for an initial self-assessment which will be benchmarked against existing standards for each supermarket and third-party assessed, at the expense of the fresh produce grower or supplier.
Tesco addressed the issue of ethical auditing at its supplier conference opened by category director for produce Daniel Quinn last week.
The supermarket said in a statement: “We work hard to ensure ethical standards are maintained in our supply chains. As our customers would expect, we have ongoing discussions with our suppliers so that they understand what we expect and so we can support them where problems are identified.”
Tesco UK chief executive Richard Brasher has reportedly “re-energised the debate” over increasing Sedex and passed down the edict to all categories.
Asda is also upping its game. “There is now a degree of emphasis on ethical audit. It’s still very much on their agenda,” said a retail source.
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