FrieslandCampina’s 150th anniversary flag was raised at all its production locations around the world on September 8. Photo courtesy of FrieslandCampina

HCM CITY — FrieslandCampina, one of the world’s largest dairy cooperatives, will continue to follow its mission of ‘better nutrition for the world accessible to everyone’ as one of the top priorities in its sustainable development, said the group’s managing director of FrieslandCampina Vietnam.

Speaking at a virtual conference via ZOOM on Thursday night (Nov 4) to celebrate its 150th anniversary of foundation and 25 years of presence in Việt Nam, Berend Van Wel said: “We are committed to creating better nutrition so that a growing global population has access to a source of nutrition that fits everyone’s income.”

“We are honoured to be in the top three in the the Access To Nutrition Initiative, whose results were announced in July 2021.” 

The initiative evaluates the world’s 25 largest dairy and food companies every two years based on their corporate social responsibility programmes aimed at tackling malnutrition and obesity in various countries.

Royal FrieslandCampina is a leading global nutrition group with a presence in 38 countries. Millions of the group’s products are consumed every day globally.

It owns leading brands such as Dutch Lady, Friso, Yomost, and Fristi, all of which are popular among Vietnamese consumers.

Phan Nam Trân, HR director of FrieslandCampina Vietnam, said with 25 years of presence in Việt Nam the group aims ‘for a rising and superior Việt Nam’.

It wants to bring the best to the Vietnamese people, focusing on child nutrition education and development, improvement of people’s quality of life, especially its partner dairy farmers, and environmental protection and sustainable development.

In 2020 it signed a strategic partnership deal with the Ministry of Education and Training for a five-year, VNĐ55 billion project called ‘For a rising and superior Việt Nam’.

The project includes a range of activities to improve physical training and provide knowledge about balanced nutrition and implement extra-curricular activities that will benefit more than 290,000 students at 200 primary schools to start with.

The number will be expanded in future, she revealed.

Tạ Thuý Hà, marketing director of consumer dairy at FrieslandCampina Vietnam, said FrieslandCampina is based on 150 years of cooperative knowledge and experience. 

FrieslandCampina is a pioneer in the Vietnamese dairy industry. As of last year it had more than 2,500 dairy farmers participating in its dairy development programme.

At its production plants, FrieslandCampina Vietnam has an efficient and sustainable production chain through the use of environment-friendly raw materials and reduction of fossil fuels, CO2 emissions and water use, according to Hà.

It also carries out communication programmes to help raise awareness among its employees and the community about sustainable development.

Today dairy is one of the Netherlands’ most important sectors. 

FrieslandCampina’s cooperative history dates back to 1871 when a number of farmers established the Vereeniging tot Ontwikkeling van den Landbouw in Hollands Noorderkwartier, the oldest known legal predecessor of Zuivelcoöperatie FrieslandCampina U.A. 

The following year 20 farmers in the northern Dutch village of Wieringerwaard decided to collaborate. 

Together, they bought a building, two cheese tubs and a weighing scale. Soon after they appointed a cheesemaker and thus was established the first official cooperation of farmers. 

In Friesland, something similar happened in the village of Warga after a group of farmers united to set up a cooperative. After several mergers, the cooperative finally resulted in the creation of FrieslandCampina. — VNS