Dairy company FrieslandCampina Vietnam has rolls out a sustainable development plan. – Photo courtesy of FrieslandCampina Vietnam

HCM CITY – FrieslandCampina Vietnam, one of the world’s largest dairy cooperatives, unveiled a sustainable development plan on October 25 that seeks to reduce environmental impacts, improve the lives of farmers and provide consumers with nutritious products.

It is in line with its mission of ‘For Việt Nam to Leap Forward and Reach Higher’ through four key goals, which guides the company’s sustainable growth and social responsibility activities.

The first is to supply nutritious dairy products to all age groups based on the FrieslandCampina Global Nutritional Standards – Next Level, which are nutritional criteria aimed at retaining the natural nutrients in milk and reducing the amounts of calories, fat, sugar, and salt, and targets for nutritional improvements by 2025.

“As one of the leading nutrition companies in the world for the past 150 years, FrieslandCampina believes that ensuring people around the world receive sufficient nutrition at affordable prices and caring for the environment are key to sustainable development,” the company said in a press release.

For instance, it has been improving the dietary value of its Dutch Lady milk products based on research into Vietnamese children’s nutritional intake and what nutrients many children lack in while still ensuring their flavour appeals to the children.

The company’s second goal is to continue developing environment-friendly packaging for its milk cartons.

It recently introduced Dutch Lady milk packed in natural brown paper cartons that are PEFC (Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification) certified and made from sugarcane bagasse.

This carton helps reduce CO2 emissions by around 10.4 per cent, and the company estimates that within 10 years it will cut down emissions by a total of 517 tonnes.

FrieslandCampina targets having 100 per cent of its packaging made of recyclable or reusable materials and reusing more than 99 per cent of waste materials by 2025.

The third goal of the sustainable development plan is to reduce the impact on the climate by saving water and electricity and using green energy.

The company plans to have solar energy accounting for 45 per cent of the needs of its two factories in Bình Dương and Hà Nam within the next five years.

The fourth goal is to provide technical training to 300,000 farmers, and transfer technologies and share experiences with partner-farmers through its dairy development programme to improve the incomes and lives of people who are part of the company’s supply chain.

Richard Kiger, general director of FrieslandCampina Việt Nam, said: "FrieslandCampina Việt Nam is proud to be one of the few companies in Việt Nam to be pursuing a sustainable development strategy for nearly 30 years since the first days of entering this market. We have been trying to implement many practical activities to become more sustainable with the growth of Việt Nam.

"During our operations in Việt Nam, our group has many accomplishments, won the trust and love of consumers around the country and constantly fostered the development of local communities.

“In future we will continue to promote activities around the four main goals that have been set out, constantly create good values to fulfil our mission and persevere with sustainable development to benefit our consumers, society and planet.”

Nguyễn Quang Vinh, deputy chairman of the Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry, commended the company’s efforts at sustainable development over the past two decades.

FrieslandCampina owns many renowned milk brands in Việt Nam that are popular with children like Dutch Lady, Friso, Yomost, and Fristi. – VNS