We want to make sure our customers feel safe and secure with us. Quality and social responsibility are always guiding principles in our operations and our business relationships. We have competent employees, clear routines, and emphasise traceability and control. Our products and services shall meet the demands for quality and safe handling made by us and those in the world around us, but also for work conditions and animal care. All our business is conducted with the human condition in mind, and our responsibility spans across national borders.
Examples of activities
To develop its work for human rights, ICA Gruppen is working with risk analyses in line with Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD) and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGP). The aim of HRDD is for companies to identify, act on and prevent negative impacts on human rights from their operations.
The products that ICA Gruppen sells are to meet a high standard regarding the impacts of production on people, the environment and animal welfare. They must be safe to use and be produced under good working conditions and in accordance with applicable animal welfare laws. The requirements are defined in the Group’s purchasing agreements and sustainability appendices.
Extra high standards are set for ICA Gruppen’s corporate brand products. ICA Gruppen has identified a number of risk ingredients and products, including: cacao, coffee, tea, risk/shellfish, palm oil, soy and cotton. The goal is that these will be sustainability labelled in ICA Gruppen’s corporate brand products by 2025 at the latest. For several of these ingredients and products, such as palm oil, soy, coffee and tea, certification requirements are already in place. Risk ingredients are associated with particularly significant challenges with respect to the impact of their production on people, the environment and animal welfare. The requirement is based on third-party labelling for certified growing and sustainable purchasing, such as KRAV, EU organic, Fairtrade, MSC, ASC, Rainforest Alliance, RTRS, RSPO and GOTS.
Suppliers of the Group’s corporate brand products must also be quality-certified according to a standard that the Group accepts. In addition, for suppliers of ICA Gruppen’s corporate brand products in high risk countries, social audits are conducted on-site.
ICA Sweden sets high standards for both Swedish and imported meat for its corporate brand products as well as from other vendors. The standards are based on Swedish animal welfare laws and are followed up through audits.
ICA Gruppen is striving both in Sweden and the Baltics to sell a greater share of MSC- and ASC-certified fish and shellfish. In addition, ICA Sweden and Rimi Baltic also adhere to WWF’s fish guides for Sweden and the Baltic countries for purchases of fish and shellfish.
ICA Sweden is the grocery retailer in Sweden that sells the most MSC- and ASC-certified seafood. In recognition of this work in 2022 ICA Sweden was the recipient of a “Goldfish” award from the MSC and the ASC. The jury’s citation also commended ICA Sweden’s work with traceability certification of fish products – from boat to table. The MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) is an international organisation that works with ecolabelling of fish and shellfish. The blue fish ecolabel signifies that the fish are well-managed, come from healthy stocks, and that measures have been taken to reduce impacts on the ocean environment. The ASC (Aquaculture Stewardship Council) is an international sustainability certification scheme for farmed fish and seafood products.
In 2022 Rimi Baltic was the first grocery retailer in the Baltic countries to be certified by both the MSC and the ASC.
ICA Sweden and Rimi Baltic adhere to WWF’s fish guides for Sweden and the Baltic countries for purchases of fish and shellfish.
ICA Sweden has become a signatory of the PFAS Movement, an initiative started by the environmental organisation ChemSec. The initiative aims to spotlight the problems with PFAS chemicals and advocate for a ban of them.
ICA Gruppen is working to find sustainable solutions in all areas. We are very proud of our membership in the organisation Better Cotton, whose mission is to help cotton communities survive and thrive while protecting and restoring the environment.
ICA Gruppen is working on several fronts to prevent food fraud, including through quality certificates, analyses and unannounced audits as well as through collaboration with others in the industry. The Group is also engaged in a continuous dialogue with the food industry and relevant authorities, and monitors the work of the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) in this area.