Ahold Delhaize Publishes 2nd Human Rights Report

Ahold Delhaize is out with its second human rights report outlining the company’s progress towards its human rights goals, spanning priority issues of health and safety, compensation, freedom of association, women’s rights, forced labor and discrimination and harassment. Along with the summary, the international retail company shared an updated position on human rights across its operation, brands and supply chains.

Among other accomplishments, the report highlighted Ahold Delhaize’s methodologies to help its banners evaluate the human rights impact in their operations and summarized the results of brands’ supply chain risk assessments. Ahold Delhaize USA, for example, engaged Business for Social Responsibility to conduct its own human rights assessment.

The report featured several initiatives launched by Ahold Delhaize’s U.S.-based banners. The Food Lion Feeds program was recognized for addressing human rights priorities within Food Lion’s communities, while Stop & Shop’s partnership with the Boston Red Sox to “strike out” school hunger was noted for the donation of 10 million meals supporting a school food pantry program.

Ahold Delhaize also shared the impact of Hannaford Supermarkets' Care to Stomp Out Stigma campaign, which provides resources to support and increase mental health and wellness and raise awareness of resources available to associates.

In addition, the retail organization’s latest report spotlighted efforts to combat real and potential human rights issues in the supply chain. Here, too, Hannaford was used an example, lauded for a due diligence review across its dairy supply chain. That work was a collaboration with private label milk suppliers and industry partners including the National Milk Producers Federation and the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy.

Meanwhile, Ahold Delhaize’s updated positioning on human rights reflects an expansion of benchmarks and international standards that guide its approach. The updated position statement also includes more details on due diligence and access to remedy.

“By stepping up on our commitments, we aim to contribute to a more equitable society that also recognizes and respects human rights. Over the past two years, our brands have made significant progress on our Roadmap on Human Rights. The brands are the driving force of our business and the case studies in this report demonstrate their dedication to advancing our efforts on topics such as diversity and inclusion, health, sustainability and human rights,” said Frans Muller, president and CEO. “As we progress, we will continue to learn and grow so that we can make meaningful contributions to human rights in our brands’ operations, supply chains and communities.” 

Ahold Delhaize USA, a division of Zaandam, Netherlands-based Ahold Delhaize, is No. 10 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2022 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. Its brands are Food Lion, FreshDirect, The Giant Co., Giant Food, Hannaford, Stop & Shop, Peapod and Retail Business Services.