Our supply chain is broad and complex – from raw material sourcing to manufacturing, quality assurance, regulatory compliance and distribution. We source thousands of ingredients from suppliers around the world and are committed to doing so responsibly.
Through innovation, collaboration and industry leadership, we work to continuously improve the strength, transparency, traceability and diversity of our supply chain in order to provide our customers with consistent quality products while helping them achieve their own sustainability goals.
We seek to ensure ethical practices in our supply chain, reduce impact to the environment and support workers and grower communities. We do this through:
We are fully committed to operating our business with the highest standards of ethics, honesty and integrity throughout the supply chain.
We expect our suppliers, and their suppliers, to conduct their business ethically, honestly and in compliance with all applicable laws, rules, regulations and industry standards, including those concerning workplace safety and human rights.
Our approach to responsible sourcing, human rights and sustainable palm oil – including our expectations of all stakeholders – are outlined in the following policies:
sets forth the basic requirements a vendor must meet in order to maintain a business relationship with IFF.
communicates IFF’s position and expectations with respect to the responsible sourcing of raw materials and reflects the shared commitments of our customers.
confirms our support for all internationally recognized human rights standards and prohibits discrimination, child labor and forced or compulsory labor of any kind.
Affirms our commitment to source all palm oil sustainably where possible and seeks to ensure that our palm oil supply chain does not contribute to deforestation, peat clearance or human rights abuses.
We use blockchain technology as a tool to ensure ingredient traceability by accurately notarizing the flow of raw materials from the crop to the customer in an inviolable manner. This process helps farmers by building a bridge with consumers while increasing trust and transparency. Learn more about our use of blockchain throughout our supply chain.
IFF is committed to conducting business in a way that respects the human rights of workers around the world.
our business model
We purchase more than 40,000 different raw materials from a network of suppliers and distributors who help us assess, prioritize and drive sustainability throughout our supply chain.
As part of our Science Based Target, we have an accompanying goal to engage suppliers representing 70% of our legacy IFF supply chain emissions by 2025. This includes having them set their own targets and report emissions annually. Working with CDP Supply Chain, we have already engaged suppliers representing more than 43% of our supply chain emissions.
In 2020, approximately 90% of business-critical suppliers were assessed through EcoVadis or Sedex - two platforms that help us drive sustainability improvements. We also use EcoVadis to assess ourselves as a supplier to our customers and received a Platinum rating in 2020.
Assessments and audits by TfS cover issues such as labor and human rights, working conditions, and the environment. As a member, we utilize TfS guidelines to improve sustainability practices across the supply chain.
LMR Naturals by IFF and Southern Cross Botanicals, a division of Lucas Meyer Cosmetics by IFF, are members of UEBT, a nonprofit that promotes the ethical sourcing of ingredients from biodiversity.
IFF is proud to be a part of the #NatureIsEveryonesBusiness Call to Action urging governments to adopt policies that will reverse nature loss in this decade.
We strive to align ourselves with the most credible, internationally recognized third-party certification standards to guide how we source materials. This ensures that for critical natural materials, we often have visibility all the way to the farm level.
ECOCERT’s For Life program recognizes an organization’s adherence to a set of rigorous sustainability criteria. LMR Naturals by IFF currently has nine natural ingredients that are certified annually through the ECOCERT For Life program, including rose from Turkey and geranium oil from Egypt. LMR has three operational facilities that are For Life certified.
We strive to sustainably manage and ensure the long-term survival of wild-collected natural ingredients. For example, LMR Naturals by IFF gained FairWild certification for Peru balsam, an ingredient used in perfumery, from El Salvador, one of the only countries where large populations of these resin-producing trees are found.
We proactively obtain organic certifications for many ingredients, particularly for naturals, and we have three operating locations with organic certification. We also have an industry-leading number of 90 natural extracts in our portfolio that are certified by EVE VEGAN®.
Although we use less than 0.1% of the palm oil produced worldwide, we have been an RSPO member since 2013. We achieved our goal on time to have 100% of the palm oil used in our products be certified, according to the RSPO Mass Balance Supply Chain Model, by the end of 2020. We currently have 21 facilities that meet the standards of RSPO Supply Chain Certification.