Better Food

We are actively addressing the most pressing diet-related health issues we face as a society including reducing artificial ingredients, antibiotic use and sodium levels, and continually advancing leadership in food safety.

As Canada’s largest value-added protein company, we believe that we have an important responsibility to seek to resolve the most pressing diet-related health issues we face as a society. Our commitment to sustainability focuses on progress in all of these areas:

Reducing sodium consumption, as Canadians consume more than double the daily amount they need
Providing access to nutrition education so Canadians can make informed food choices
Improving food safety, as it’s an imperative that demands constant focus and continuous improvement

2017 Sustainability Report

Learn more about our food safety efforts, metrics and strategies for the future.

Our goals and performance

2017 Priorities	Our Performance	2018⁺ Priorities
Remove artificial colours, flavours and trans fats from our retail-branded products by the end of 2017.	We removed artificial flavours, colours and trans fats from all our prepared meats products with the exception of the treats in 11 of our Lunch Kit products. These products are anticipated to be completed by the end of 2018.	Execute the commitments of our Food Manifesto for our Maple Leaf brand. Be leaders of the Real Food Movement. Continue to expand our North American leadership in Raised Without Antibiotics (“RWA”) pork, and Canadian RWA poultry.
Continue to expand our leadership in Raised Without Antibiotics (RWA) pork in North America, and in RWA poultry in Canadian.	We are transitioning our Maple Leaf Prime brand to 100% RWA. We remain one of the largest producers of pork Raised Without Antibiotics in North America and the largest in Canadian poultry.
Achieved Partially Achieved On Track Deferred

2017 Priorities

Status

Our Performance

2018⁺ Priorities

Remove artificial colours, flavours and trans fats from our retail-branded products by the end of 2017.

We removed artificial flavours, colours and trans fats from all our prepared meats products with the exception of the treats in 11 of our Lunch Kit products. These products are anticipated to be completed by the end of 2018.

Execute the commitments of our Food Manifesto for our Maple Leaf brand. Be leaders of the Real Food Movement.
Continue to expand our North American leadership in Raised Without Antibiotics (“RWA”) pork, and Canadian RWA poultry.

Continue to expand our leadership in Raised Without Antibiotics (RWA) pork in North America, and in RWA poultry in Canadian.

We are transitioning our Maple Leaf Prime brand to 100% RWA.

We remain one of the largest producers of pork Raised Without Antibiotics in North America and the largest in Canadian poultry.

Achieved

Partially Achieved

On Track

Deferred

Our journey toward better food

Great food means different things to different people at different times and we want to meet all those needs!

Maple Leaf Foods completed exhaustive consumer research that has led to an initiative to renovate our prepared meats portfolio across our three brands: Maple Leaf, Schneiders and Swift.

We launched the most sweeping changes in our Maple Leaf brand’s history where we have taken out the ingredients you don’t know or don’t want, and replaced them with natural, real or simple ingredients that you can pronounce. Read the Maple Leaf Food Manifesto.

Ingredients then

Mechanically separated chicken, pork, water, modified corn starch, salt, potassium lactate, dextrose, wheat gluten, spice, corn syrup solids, sodium phosphate, sodium diacetate, sodium erythorbate, garlic powder, onion powder, sodium nitrite, smoke.

Contains: wheat

Ingredients now

Chicken, pork, water, tapioca starch, sea salt, spice, vinegar, cultured celery extract, cane sugar, cherry powder, smoke.

Reducing sodium

Canadians consume about 3,400 mg of sodium each day, which is more than double the amount we need. The recommended average daily sodium intake is 2,300 mg according to Health Canada guidelines.

Reducing or removing sodium from our prepared meats products is a priority, although it is inherently challenging given the important role of salt in food safety. It involves careful product reformulation, including salt, spices and other ingredients, to ensure that taste, food safety and quality are not compromised.

Our journey towards less salt in numbers:

75 per cent of our prepared meats products currently meet updated Health Canada sodium guidelines (this is up from 61 per cent in 2015)
61 new protein products that we launched in 2017 met the voluntary Health Canada sodium guidelines

Maple Leaf Top Dogs Original

Maple Leaf Regular Bacon

Maple Leaf Salt Reduced Bacon

Natural selections Oven Roasted Turkey Breast

Maple Leaf Flakes of Ham

Health Canada sodium guidelines (mg per 100g)*

Product sodium content (mg per 100g)

* Phase 3 – December 31, 2016 maximum level Health Canada target

Nutritional Information

Knowing the right amount of which foods to eat each day and understanding how to read food labels are important to ensure a healthy lifestyle. To help Canadians make informed food choices, we are focusing on three priorities:

Easier-to-read labels

Simplify and increase the readability of packaging, so consumers can make informed food choices.

A focus on facts

Partner with Health Canada, Retail Council of Canada, Food Consumer Products of Canada, Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers and other leading food companies to launch “Focus on the Facts” nutrition labelling.

Better nutrition information at your fingertips

Provide better, more engaging content to help consumers access information that will help them plan their diets based on their nutritional needs.

Download Our 2017 Sustainability Report to Find Out More

Food safety

232,000+ tests: We follow rigorous food safety testing for listeria and other forms of potential contamination, which exceeds Canadian Food Inspection Agency requirements.

At Maple Leaf Foods, we do our very best to minimize the presence of bacteria that can cause foodborne illness, such as Salmonella, Listeria and E. Coli. Our goal is to always provide consumers safe, great-tasting food produced in a safe work environment. To that end, we have created the Maple Leaf Food Safety Promise, which we stand by and adhere to in our daily duties.

Our food safety goals and performance

Download Our 2017 Sustainability Report

2017 Priorities	Our Performance	2018⁺ Priorities
All of our raw material, ingredient and packaging suppliers will be food safety certified to a Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) benchmarked standard by the end of 2017.	All of our co-manufacturers and 99% of raw meat suppliers are certified to GFSI benchmarked standard. 85% of our non-meat, food contact packaging and non-food contact suppliers are certified to GFSI benchmarked standard. We are working on ensuring our remaining suppliers achieve GFSI certification.	Establish industry-leading Food Safety and Quality metrics to build accountability, establish reporting rhythms and improve employee behaviours. Develop and execute a world-class, efficient, and predictive Food Safety and Quality (FSQ) management system based on powerful analytics, performance metrics and accountability. This system will use information to prevent and predict issues before they become significant. Enhance our HACCP plans and expand training and certification by 2018. Implement LIMS at remaining processing facilities and laboratories, including hatcheries, by the end of 2019.
Implement a world-class listeria monitoring program in 2017.	We updated our zone definitions to be consistent with most recent updates (FSIS 2014 and draft FDA 2016). We modified our sampling procedure to be more aggressive and preventative. We created multiple sampling programs that extends sampling across both production and non-production windows. We developed a critical thinking game titled, “Listeria Escape Room”, based upon adult learning best practices. The game is now a central part of our food safety training, and it has been deployed by the North American Meat Institute as part of their training at the Advanced Listeria Workshop for industry professionals.
Enhance our Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) plans and expand training and certification by 2018.	All HACCP plans at the 13 further processed plants were reviewed, process flows updated, and CCPs evaluated. HACCP plan review of the 6 primary processing plants underway. Formal HACCP training and certification underway for staff at all plants.
Implement Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) at all laboratory locations by the end of 2018.	We completed LIMS implementation in four processing facilities and plant laboratories in 2017. We are on track for implementation in 16 additional facilities and corporate locations in 2018.
Achieved Partially Achieved On Track Deferred

Our global food safety standards

We adhere to the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) benchmarked standards across Maple Leaf Foods. All of our meat production facilities are audited annually by an internal food safety audit function and a third-party auditor, following the British Retail Consortium (BRC) Global Standard for Food Safety, which is recognized by the GFSI. All of our fresh and prepared meats facilities adhere to these standards.

We monitor the effectiveness of our efforts through aggressive testing of our products and manufacturing environment. In 2017, we conducted more than 232,000 tests to detect bacteria, including pathogens in our food processing facilities.

We also regularly swab, test and sanitize all of our meat production areas, including manufacturing equipment, floors, walls and all surface areas for the presence of listeria.