Transforming our

value chain

Our value chain is as complex as it is diverse, comprising thousands of suppliers including farmers, food manufacturers, distribution companies, and other product and service providers.

We aim to understand every link in the chain in depth by expanding traceability and monitoring processes. This enables us to identify and mitigate potential social and environmental risks at the upstream stages of raw materials extraction and processing. We also aim to maximize positive impact, and to choose products that support a more responsible offering and consumer habits.

Our relationship with suppliers is governed by guidelines on themes such as human rights, occupational health and safety, food safety, anti-corruption practices, biodiversity protection, the environment, and animal welfare. These guideline are outlined in documents such as our Supplier Ethics Charter, Code of Ethics, and other policies. The GPA Supplier Ethics Charter is incorporated in our agreements with suppliers, and in the programs and commitments that inform our policies, processes, performance metrics and training.

Read the GPA Supplier Ethics Charter

After identifying and mapping out risks and opportunities within our value chain, we have focused our efforts on the following issues: combating deforestation, animal welfare, biodiversity conservation, working conditions, supporting smallholders, and supplier quality and development programs.

GPA is committed to combating deforestation and the conversion of native vegetation within our value chain, and to protecting native biomes and cultural heritage. We also strive to uphold and promote respect for the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the rights and ways of life of indigenous peoples, local communities and workers.

TACKLING DEFORESTATION

Deforestation and forest conversion lead to increased greenhouse gas emissions, which can contribute to extreme weather events that disrupt ecosystems and threaten the survival of humanity, especially indigenous and traditional peoples and the most vulnerable communities, besides affecting economic activities. We have identified the beef and palm oil value chains as a material topic for the sustainable management of our business, given their significance within our product assortment.

Since 2012, GPA has worked continuously to develop and evolve our policies and processes for screening and monitoring direct suppliers. We have worked with suppliers, governments, regulatory agencies and civil-society organizations to develop, perfect and implement best social and environmental practices for these value chains.

The beef value chain comprises a complex array of production stages and players. Our aim is to build a deforestation-free value chain by implementing sound procurement policies and structured processes, and engaging with each link in the value chain.

In 2016 we developed a Responsible Beef Sourcing Policy and a dedicated process for supplier screening—covering both private-label and domestic brands—and have since continually monitored our suppliers for compliance with the Policy. Our Responsible Beef Sourcing Policy aims to ensure our beef supply chain is transparent and traceable from ranch to slaughterhouse, and that the beef we source has not been raised in areas that have suffered deforestation or conversion of native vegetation.

Since 2020, all slaughterhouses looking to do business with GPA have been required to comply with the unified protocol Boi na Linha (for the Amazon biome) and to demonstrate that they are compliant with applicable regulations. All slaughterhouses have pledged to ensure their value chain is:

Free of deforestation or conversion of native vegetation
Free of forced, compulsory or child labor
Free of environmental embargoes due to deforestation
Free of land grabbing in indigenous or quilombola lands
Free of land grabbing in protected areas
Registered with the Rural Environmental Register (CAR) and environmentally licensed, as applicable

To monitor compliance with this Policy, we have a traceability system in which suppliers are required to enter information on cattle sourcing (the source farm, batch number and slaughterhouse). In addition to social and environmental information, we also collect information on food safety and quality (cut accuracy, packaging integrity, labeling and packing date).

Since 2017, meat packers supplying beef products to GPA—including domestic-brand and private-label suppliers—have been required to have a satellite geomonitoring system that allows us to identify social and environmental risks by intersecting farm location data with publicly available information, and to confirm that each batch is compliant with GPA Policy. To assess compliance and accuracy in meat packers’ monitoring processes, GPA reassesses the source farms for each batch to check that they are compliant with the requirements in our Policy and the Boi na Linha protocol.

Suppliers found not to be compliant with our Responsible Beef Sourcing Policy and/or that violate any Policy requirements at any time during their commercial relationship with GPA are subject to measures that include debarment from doing business with the Group until they are compliant.

Access our Social and Environmental beef purchasing Policy Watch our vídeo about Social and Environmental beef purchasing

Palm oil is the world’s most widely produced and marketed vegetable oil. It is used in the food, personal care and cleaning, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals and lubricants industries, as well as in biofuels and bioenergy. Due to its significance, we have monitored the use of palm oil in our products since 2016.

In 2020 we introduced a Sustainable Palm Oil Sourcing Policy to ensure that our private-label products meet sustainable production standards, in order to mitigate negative impacts from palm oil-related deforestation. This policy aims to identify and mitigate potential risks in the supply chains from which we source of palm oil for use in private-label products, and to promote the responsible consumption of this food product.

Ensure transparency in our palm-oil supply chains.
Provide supplier training and capacity building.
Monitor supplier compliance with the Policy.
Require suppliers to source palm oil that is free of deforestation or conversion of native vegetation and whose suppliers respect local communities, indigenous communities and workers’ rights.
Encourage Brazilian palm growers to adopt responsible and sustainable farming practices.
Collaborate with critical players in the palm oil value chain to improve practices.

We engage continuously with our suppliers and provide training and development opportunities as part of our efforts to increase transparency within our supply chain. Our goal is to be able to track the origin of the palm oil we source for our private-label products and to ensure the palm oil we source from overseas is 100% certified.

Access our Social and Environmental Palm Oil purchasing Policy

ANIMAL WELFARE

We recognize our role in providing food products that are safe, traceable, and meet animal welfare standards. We have outlined a set of animal welfare commitments and goals in our Animal Welfare Policy. This policy provides guidelines that govern our relationships with suppliers across the egg, chicken, cattle, and pig supply chains. Compliance with these guidelines is a condition of doing business with us.

GPA’s animal welfare approach is structured around four pillars:

Sourcing and traceability – Implementing responsible sourcing processes across Group stores.
Engaging the supply chain - Strengthening engagement with suppliers to encourage sustainable and viable production practices.
Promoting conscientious consumption - Raising awareness so consumers are familiar with and preferably purchase products meeting animal welfare standards.
Advocacy and legislation – Lobbying to strengthen legislation and regulations related to production processes.

Our commitments are based on current standards and legislation, as well as the Five Freedoms framework proposed by the Farm Animal Welfare Committee (FAWC) and the Five Domains Model for animal welfare assessment (Mellor, et al, 2020). These freedoms define ideal states rather than standards for acceptable welfare. The Five Freedoms are:

Freedom from Hunger and Thirst: by ready access to fresh water and a diet to maintain full health and vigor
Freedom from Discomfort: by providing an appropriate environment including shelter and a comfortable resting area
Freedom from Pain, Injury or Disease: by prevention or rapid diagnosis and treatment;
Freedom to Express Normal Behavior: by providing sufficient space, proper facilities and company of the animal’s own kind; and
Freedom from Fear and Distress: by ensuring conditions and treatment which avoid mental suffering.

Access GPA Animal Welfare Policy

Learn more about our initiatives in each of our supply chains below:

GPA was the first Brazilian food retailer to commit to animal welfare in the egg supply chain in 2017, when we pledged to ensure 100% of our private-label eggs are sourced from cage-free hens by 2025. In the same year, we became the first retailer to launch a private-label range of cage-free eggs.

In the years since, we have implemented a strategy that includes engaging with the supply chain, collaborating with other players in the value chain, raising consumer awareness, and store-stocking with cage-free eggs. As a result, we have seen consistent improvement in our numbers and have expanded our goal to include all other brands we market. This means that 100% of the eggs sold in our stores will come from cage-free, free-range, and organic hens by 2028.

We have set a target to ensure that 100% of the pork available in our stores (both private-label and other brands) is sourced from suppliers that treat animal welfare as a priority, which includes ensuring their pigs are healthy and free to express their natural behavior. We aim to achieve this target by 2028. Other animal welfare commitments for pork products include:

Transitioning to open-pen gestation by the end of 2028;
Abolishing ear-notching for animal identification;
Replacing surgical castration with vaccination-based castration (immunocastration);
Only using teeth clipping in extreme cases, such animals exhibiting aggressive behavior or injuring each other;
Requiring environmental enrichment at the different production stages to stimulate recreational and exploratory behavior in animals and reduce stress;
Eliminating the use of beta-agonists in our private-label products. For other suppliers, we will implement a program to monitor the responsible use of antibiotics.

More information about these commitments, and guidelines for suppliers, can be found in our Animal Welfare Policy and Animal Biosafety and Animal Welfare Handbook for pig suppliers.

One of our main priorities is ensuring the meat we sell in our stores is high quality and sustainably sourced. To this end, in 2016 we implemented a Responsible Beef Sourcing Policy that outlines criteria, rules and guidelines that all of our meat suppliers are required to follow.

This policy also outlines the animal welfare practices that must be in place in the production process.

Our private-label products are already fully traceable to their source, and by 2025 all Pão de Açúcar suppliers must publicly commit to adhering to our animal welfare policy.

Access the Social and Environmental Policy for
Beef Purchases

The GPA Group is committed to providing broiler chickens with suitable living conditions for their welfare, from hatchery to slaughter, and to ensuring our broiler value chain is ethical and sustainable. This includes providing optimal housing conditions and meeting internationally recognized standards on animal welfare.

We have set a target to ensure that 100% of our private-label products meet the animal welfare standards outlined in the GPA Animal Welfare Policy by 2028.

DECENT WORKPLACE CONDITIONS

Respecting human rights in all value chains involving our suppliers and commercial partners is a central plank of our sustainability strategy. Complying with these guidelines is not only mandatory but also a condition for continued business with the company.

Our human-rights commitments are based on frameworks proposed by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and other United Nations initiatives, such as the Global Compact, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights.

GPA’s Value Chain Human Rights Policy sets out general and specific requirements on human rights and workplace conditions that our suppliers are required to follow. This helps to ensure that the products we offer and our customers consume are responsibly sourced. In accordance with this policy, we regularly monitor and audit our suppliers to ensure compliance with applicable laws, regulations and standards on preventing child labor, slave labor and forced labor.

GPA became a signatory of the Pact for the Eradication of Slavery Labor in 2005, and joined the Brazilian Textile Retail Association (ABVTEX) Program in 2011. As part of our commitment within this program, we audit and monitor 100% of suppliers in our textile supply chain.

We are also members of the Initiative for Compliance and Sustainability (ICS) and as such, we regularly engage third-party firms to conduct social compliance audits on factories located in areas at high risk for labor abuse and on all private-label products. These audits verify compliance with international standards for working conditions and labor requirements at factory locations. We also conduct issue-specific audits on forced labor; human trafficking; immigrant labor; child labor; freedom of association; the right to collective bargaining; discrimination; occupational health and safety; abuse and harassment; pay and benefits; and working hours and overtime. The audit findings inform action plans for each supplier. In the event of a serious breach, we terminate our business relationship with the relevant supplier.

Since 2017, all potential suppliers and contractors have been screened in a process that includes searches on the Slave Labor Block List (an official list published by the Brazilian Economic Ministry and the Labor Inspection Office) and the embargoes list issued by the Brazilian environmental agency (IBAMA). Any companies in these lists are automatically rejected, and are not allowed to supply goods or provide services to GPA.

Know the Human Rights across the Value Chain Policy

BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION

Growing global demand for fish has put significant pressure on the planet's main fish stocks. This, and consumer preferences, have resulted in overfishing of certain species.

In order to minimize this impact, GPA has implemented practices Group-wide to manage our supply chain more sustainably:

We have a procedure for taking deliveries of fresh fish that monitors quality and compliance with legislation by fish suppliers. Delivery inspections cover aspects such as closed season and minimum size compliance, and monitoring records in the General Fishery Registry (RGP);
We do not sell any of the more than 470 endangered fish species listed in MMA Ordinance 148/2022, even when this is allowed by applicable legislation;
We encourage consumers to purchase lesser-known species (such as spotted goatfish, Atlantic Spanish mackerel, yellowtail amberjack, coney, Atlantic bigeye, Atlantic mackerel, Atlantic horse mackerel, red porgy, and crevalle jack) through communication and education efforts to diversify demand and minimize overfishing of popular species.

SUPPORTING SMALLHOLDERS

Supporting small suppliers is a key practice at GPA. To this end, we have several programs that help smallholders supply their produce to our stores and support their farming operations. We also support several related partner programs. Some of our key initiatives include:

Caras do Brasil (“FACES OF BRAZIL”)

As an industry first among large retailers, in 2001 we created a program, called Caras do Brasil (“Faces of Brazil”), to encourage customers to purchase produce that is sustainably grown by small farmers.

In addition to expanding smallholder access to mainstream retail by offering typical products from Brazil’s five major regions in our stores, the program helps increase consumer recognition and appreciation of their products, strengthening regional economies and culture by placing food products in dedicated displays in our stores, with exclusive advertising and special commercial terms.

Since its inception, over 100 small suppliers have joined the program and become eligible to special commercial terms. All suppliers undergo audits on compliance with good manufacturing practices, social responsibility and impact on surrounding communities.

Watch the video about the program

Horta Social Urbana

The Horta Social Urbana (“Community Kitchen Garden”) project is an initiative led by NGO ARCAH (Associação de Resgate à Cidadania por Amor à Humanidade) that aims to transform vacant spaces in the city of São Paulo, particularly vacant lots, into community kitchen gardens. The project promotes the social development of homeless people by selecting gardening course participants from shelters and providing them with a transportation allowance, food, uniforms, therapeutic and psychological care, as well as training in agroecology.

After completing the course, participants have the opportunity to work and earn an income by growing, harvesting, and selling vegetables, herbs, and ready-to-eat salads.

With support from the GPA Institute, since June 2020 the vegetables grown as part of the program have been sold in Pão de Açúcar and Pão de Açúcar Fresh stores in São Paulo, and in 2021 they became part of the Pão de Açúcar e-commerce portfolio (paodeacucar.com).

Muda Meu Mundo

Muda Meu Mundo is a startup in Brazil’s northeastern state of Ceará that supports family farming by providing technology that connects producers and their produce (fruits and vegetables) to supermarkets.

All farmers participating in the program receive certification after receiving training through video lessons and materials on management, pricing, and sustainability. Muda Meu Mundo also advises farmers on preserving native forests, reducing carbon emissions, and water stewardship, as well as social issues such as family health, gender equality, and keeping children in school. You can find out where to purchase these products by clicking here.

PRODUCT QUALITY AND SAFETY

At GPA, we prioritize quality, safety, and healthiness in all of the products we offer to our customers. We consistently strive to source products from suppliers who follow best practices in these areas. We have implemented a range of programs that monitor and support the development of our suppliers in these areas. Some examples of these programs are presented below.

End-To-End Quality

Created in 2008, our End-To-End Quality program is a first in Brazilian retail for production chain traceability and development. The program aims to disseminate and encourage good practices, promote the highest standards of quality, develop the value chain and traceability, and ensure compliance with food safety and quality requirements.

To achieve this, the program is organized around several key pillars, including quality inspections at distribution centers, audits of direct suppliers and producers, sample collection and laboratory testing, and data collection from invoices for traceability.

Since 2019, the program has also included a monitoring platform where suppliers can share technical information and traceability data, and view their audit performance, inspection scores, and testing results. This information is also used by our purchasing team to select the best suppliers and products for our customers.

QDO supports our teams in ensuring we offer high-quality fruit and vegetable, pork and fish products in our stores.

Click here to see more about "Qualidade Desde a Origem Check out the videos

Quality Improvement Program

In 2013 we launched a Quality Improvement Program aimed at ensuring the quality and safety of our products and building consumer trust in our private-label brands.

Private-label suppliers are audited and certified against an audit protocol based on current legislation and GPA requirements, as well as international food safety standards recognized by the Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) for food products.

The program also includes social audits based on the Initiative Clause Sociale (ICS) protocol, which measures supplier compliance with current laws and International Labor Organization (ILO) standards.

Every quarter we publish a supplier performance dashboard showing the scores they have received in audits. This creates greater transparency around the process and helps to encourage best practices and continuous improvement in the production process, as well as serving as an input to improve our business relationships. We also regularly hold workshops and training sessions for our suppliers on topics such as packaging sustainability, product development, food safety culture, and handling non-conformities.

OFFERING MORE SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS

Offering more sustainable products is a part of our business strategy, aligned around our philosophy of promoting sustainability-centric lifestyles that benefit customers, employees and suppliers.

Every year we create or build on existing projects that meet these parameters. Learn about some of these below:

Taeq is among the first private-label brands in the world to support healthy diets through an offering of hundreds of products including fruit, vegetables and greens and processed goods. To be sold under the Taeq brand, products must conform to a nutritional guide or list of permitted ingredients, and be free of GMOs (Genetically Modified Organisms) click here to view a list of art related commitments. They are also required to fit into at least one of the following categories (policies): naturally healthy/minimally processed; organic; whole; free from sugar, lactose and/or gluten; vegan; functional; or nutritionally enhanced (nutritionally balanced and with stricter limits on sugar, salt and saturated fats).
Looking to offer our customers the freshest produce available, we have installed vertical hydroponic systems in some Pão de Açúcar stores where customers can pick vegetables directly from the plants. In addition to reducing the distance between farmers and consumers, this initiative helps to reduce food waste caused by losses during shipping, as well as minimizing the use of packaging—the freshly picked produce is packaged in paper.
We were the first in our industry to offer organic products at our stores as a way to preserve the environment while supporting healthier lifestyles through high-quality products. We have also implemented initiatives to make it easier for people to access and consume organic foods.
More and more consumers are turning to plant-based products. GPA has always been committed to offering innovative, easy-to-use, practical and delicious solutions, and we were pioneers in offering plant-based options to our customers starting in May 2019. We are constantly seeking to innovate and expand our range of products that cater to different types of customers, including vegans, vegetarians, and flexitarians, and even those who are still eating meat and meat products but wish to diversify their options.