Biorigin and Zilor have published the 7th edition of the Zilor-Biorigin Sustainability Report, which reveals values such as integrity, safety and accomplishments of their teams in light of current global challenges amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In the last two-year period, Biorigin has increased its business competitiveness and profitability. Speaking to FoodIngredientsFirst, Emerson de Vasconcelos, Biorigin’s CEO, highlights the company’s environmental sustainability targets for the company year.

“For us, sustainable development is a way of acting that considers meeting the needs of all stakeholders, today and in the future. This is how we chose to stay in the direction of our purpose: to promote people’s health and wellbeing, develop ingredients that enhance the taste, reduce the sodium content and extend the shelf life of the food produced by our customers,” he says.

“We continuously seek to think and act sustainably in all our business activities, covering all operational processes. To support this work dynamic, we have a Sustainability Policy, which guides the strategic planning of the company’s most diverse areas in an integrated manner by establishing priorities on relevant topics, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).”

The pillars of Biorigin’s strategy comprise six major areas of work: 
• Guarantee the financial return to the shareholder, acting with socio-environmental responsibility.
• Ensure the physical integrity of people by providing healthy and safe work environments
• Manage the socio-environmental impacts of operations.
• Meet the legal requirements and other voluntary requirements applicable in the value chain, with respect to human beings and the environment.
• Educate, train and commit employees and the value chain to sustainability.
• Interact with communities in the locations wher we operate, aiming at sustainable social development.

The Sustainability Policy comprises six major areas of work.“In this context of global challenges, which include topics such as climate change, water and sustainable consumption, we see them as part of the solution and our focus is on expanding the positive impacts resulting from the company’s operations, as well as minimizing negative impacts,” de Vasconcelos continues. 

Meanwhile, through natural ingredients and with a sustainable and certified production chain, our products add value and benefit a healthier food chain. “In the 2019/20 harvest, Biorigin reached Ecovadis’ sustainability gold rating. We were assessed for sustainability performance according to 21 criteria, in four categories (environment, labor and human rights, ethics and sustainable purchasing practices),” explains de Vasconcelos.

Meanwhile, Bonsucro certification for the entire chain of custody offers customers the guarantee of origin and traceability of the raw material used in Biorigin’s production process. It is an important initiative to ensure the use of good social and environmental practices, with respect to human rights and actions to preserve the environment. In addition, ISO 22000, FSSC 22000 and GMP+ certifications ensure the companies’ good production practices and food safety, covering the stages of production, packaging and distribution logistics for 100 percent of the volumes produced. The Biorigin plant installed in the US has Safe Quality Food (SQF) certification for the Food Safety Management System.

COVID-19 challenges
According to de Vasconcelos, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of the food industry for the security of global society. “In addition to the virus, we live with the risk of shortages and the impact on populations with less purchasing power,” he asserts. “Even when the challenges of this crisis are overcome, the growth of population will continue to demand the production of food on a larger scale, with more efficiency and less environmental impact.”

“We at Biorigin are part of this equation by offering innovative and natural products for human food and animal nutrition, promoting health and well-being. We are on the right path to continue growing and contributing to a more sustainable world,” de Vasconcelos adds. 

Despite the current challenges due to the coronavirus pandemic, the prospects for ethanol in Brazil remain positive, mainly due to the entry into force of RenovaBio, a public policy that encourages the decarbonization of the Brazilian energy matrix. Zilor was one of the first companies in the country to receive certification for the issuance of Decarbonization Credits (CBIOs), which motivates the company to continue looking for solutions to increase the energy efficiency of our production processes.

For Zilor’s CEO, Fabiano José Zillo, the results presented in the two years were positive. However, maximum efficiency will be even more important from now on. “We have experienced an intense process of restructuring and maturing in the last two crops. We need to remain focused on reducing costs, training our teams, on the diversity of people and ideas, and developing activities to remain competitive and position ourselves as a sector’s reference in productivity, efficiency and results,” he points out.

Fabiano also highlights that the commitment to a sustainable, productive model will remain a priority and will increasingly be the basis for the results “we will achieve in a society that will emerge after the pandemic.”

“With innovation and focus on our customers’ needs, we have strengthened and built partnerships, expanding our market presence in Europe, the US, Latin America and Asia. With efficiency in industrial assets, we deliver quality and safe products in more than 60 different countries. Our goal is to be increasingly competitive and expand the generation of value, with a legacy of sustainability and responsibility in the production processes,” concludes de Vasconcelos.