DE 
- Comprehensive sustainability assessment of peppermint and spearmint raw materials
- Symrise and Norwest Ingredients cooperate closely on cultivation practices
- Holzminden-based Group focuses on sustainability along the entire supply chain
Symrise can now offer its customers products with mint verified at Gold level of SAI Platform’s Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA). The close cooperation between Symrise and Norwest Ingredients and the mint farmers who supply them have made this achievement possible. Currently, verified mint accounts for one-third of supplied volume from Norwest Ingredients. Together with Norwest Ingredients and other partners, Symrise intends to expand this further and to systematically advance its sustainability approach along the entire supply chain.
Norwest Ingredients and the network of farmers successfully passed a comprehensive review process to obtain the mint verification. In line with the Farm Sustainability Assessment (FSA) criteria, the farms work with proven sustainable practices in multiple areas, from water and energy management to soil health, biodiversity and working conditions.
This way, Symrise takes a further step in its commitment for sustainable agriculture together with suppliers and partners. They pursue one common goal – to consistently optimize the entire supply chain with initiatives aimed at driving better livelihood for farmers, reduced environmental impact and additional business opportunities.
Symrise pursues ambitious sustainability objectives
The verification of US peppermint and spearmint represents another milestone for the ambitious sustainability objectives of Symrise. By 2025, the Holzminden-based Group wants to obtain 100% of its strategic biological raw materials from sustainable sources.
“Together with Norwest Ingredients, we feel delighted about the verification of the peppermint and spearmint supply chain,” says Mark Birch, Sustainability Director Business Transformation Group at Symrise. “At Symrise, we continuously work together with our regional partners to optimize our supply chains in a sustainable way. For us, sustainable commitment means demonstrating continuous improvement. This mint verification provides a further example that we are moving on the right path. Partnering with established initiatives like SAI Platform helps us continually improve ourselves.”
SAI platform is a leading network for sustainable agriculture and supply chains. The initiative, founded in 2002, comprises around 150 members around the world. Independent auditing bodies work with farmers to validate their compliance to the socio-environmental standards of the FSA. To renew their verification they undergo this procedure every three years using comprehensive evaluation criteria.
Opportunities for manufacturers to act sustainably
With verified mint, producers give a robust response to fulfill the growing requirements of consumers and make their ingredients more sustainable. Especially in oral care products, mint plays an important role due to its freshness and taste. Consumers want oral hygiene brands to provide sustainable products and transparent information about their origin and production. Recent surveys show that around a fifth of German consumers see sustainable production as one of the most important purchasing criteria for oral care products. The verified mint ingredients from Symrise meet this requirement.
“Consumers like mint a lot. That’s why it forms one of the most important ingredients for our oral care products,” says Nicholas Jon Evans Director of Global Business Development Oral Care at Symrise. “Our verified mint combines the consumer demand for freshness, hygiene and sustainability, and it offers manufacturers opportunities to bring innovative products to the market.”
Useful links: https://saiplatform.org/fsa/
About Symrise
Symrise is a global supplier of fragrances, flavors, food, nutrition and cosmetic ingredients. Its clients include manufacturers of perfumes, cosmetics, food and beverages, pharmaceuticals and producers of nutritional supplements and pet food.
Its sales of € 3.8 billion in the 2021 fiscal year make Symrise a leading global provider. Headquartered in Holzminden, Germany, the Group is represented by more than 100 locations in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia, the United States and Latin America.
Symrise works with its clients to develop new ideas and market-ready concepts for products that form an integral part of everyday life. Economic success and corporate responsibility are inextricably linked as part of this process.
